Review

Review Date: 28-December-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Jubilation!

Frost/Nixon (2008)

The adjective that sprang to my mind after watching Frost/Nixon was "exciting." This is not a descriptor you would expect to see applied to a movie about two guys talking in a living room. But Ron Howard's political/personal drama is just that — exciting — as well as fascinating, impressive, and utterly entertaining.

The two guys in question are British television personality David Frost and ex-U.S. president Richard Nixon. The time is the mid-seventies when the former was enjoying success as a talk show host and the latter had slunk off to California after resigning from office. While the movie mostly adheres to the real-life circumstances of their on-camera meeting, what makes it exciting is that it is essentially a classic underdog tale. Like others (e.g., Oliver Stone), writer Peter Morgan views Nixon as a sort of underdog, not unmixed with cur, who is guilty of too many far-reaching mistakes to deserve to come out on top. So it is Frost for whom we are asked to root, a lightweight playboy and product of the TV age who harbors zero journalistic pretensions until he realizes that Nixon is ratings gold. He is the least likely man to assume responsibility for a nation that needs to understand and pardon before it can heal. But that is the role he unwittingly assumes.

Frost's lack of experience strikes terror into his partners and would-be financiers and, once he discovers his folly, into his own soul. But his foremost opposition is Nixon himself. Theirs is a lopsided battle of wills which Michael Sheen (as the shell-shocked Frost) and Frank Langella (as the aptly dubbed Tricky Dick) turn into one hell of a show. I cannot say enough for these two actors, standouts in a film packed with superb performances. (Kevin Bacon deserves mention as Nixon's devoted aide.) Frost almost misses his date with destiny as Nixon manipulates their interviews to portray his presidency in a positive light. But Nixon sees something of himself in his younger combatant and, ironically, it is he who spurs Frost to summon his scrappy side and accomplish a deed of note. Encompassing both historic and individual watersheds with great warmth and élan, Frost/Nixon is not to be missed.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.