Frost/Nixon - 8 stars out of 10

Frost/Nixon - 8 stars out of 10

Sheen/Langella, er... Frost/Nixon was another beautifully crafted work by director Ron Howard.  Portraying an historical, political event in a fresh way often ends in a very boring 2 hours for the audience, but Howard truly succeeded with this film.  The film is an interesting historical interpretation of the famous 1977 tv interviews that attempted to elicit an apology and/or admission of guilt from Richard Nixon.  The script (adapted from the British play) and costumes bring the events to life, but the real draw of this film is its raw acting (as indicated by its Oscar nominations).  Frank Langella plays Richard Nixon so perfectly that the next time that you see video footage of Nixon, it won’t look right.  Meanwhile, Michael Sheen builds momentum through the entire film as he works toward that final interview.  The supporting cast of Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, and Matthew Macfadyen enhance the realism of the story by bringing the backstage preparation for the interviews into the spotlight.  It is interesting that the story involves so much problem solving.  Nixon was an expert at filling the interview time with random stories that avoided any negative commentary about his administration, and I love how the story explores the research and the strategy necessary to lead Nixon into a corner.  This is just a film that you have to see to understand its historical significance.  “Frost/Nixon” is a no-holds-barred mental boxing match that leads to one of the most unlikely on-air confessions in history.