Frost/Nixon

As slick as one might’ve expected, Frost/Nixon tells the true-life story of how British talk-show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) managed to land a series of interviews with disgrace ex-President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). The film, based on Peter Morgan’s award-winning play, primarily details the build-up into the interviews among both sides, as Frost prepares by collaborating with a ragtag group of intellectuals (including Sam Rockwell’s James Reston Jr and Oliver Platt’s Bob Zelnick) and Nixon conspires with trusted aide Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) to turn the hyped conversations to their advantage. Although filmmaker Ron Howard generally does a superb job of satisfying both mainstream viewers and history buffs, there’s ultimately little doubt that Frost/Nixon will have a more pronounced impact on the latter – as the movie suffers from a dramatically-inert midsection that often seems consumed with the minutia of Frost and Nixon’s preparations. It’s subsequently not surprising to note that the film suffers from an undeniable lack of tension as it builds towards the pair’s series of encounters, with Howard’s lighthearted approach effectively lending the proceedings an air of frivolity that often borders on cute. The entertaining-yet-middling atmosphere eventually does give way to an electrifying and downright moving third act, however, as the title pair’s confrontations are fraught with a back-and-forth dynamic that inevitably proves irresistible. Langella and Sheen’s stirring work certainly goes a long way towards cementing Frost/Nixon‘s mild success, while Howard surely deserves credit for infusing the production with a distinctly cinematic quality that generally belies its stage origins.

*** out of ****