This movie made me think not of other political movies but of a boxing movie, like Rocky, or the underrated one director Ron Howard did before this, Cinderella Man. They were underdog stories, and this is an underdog story for political junkies. It’s not about Watergate. There’s already movies like All the President’s Men and so forth. You don’t even need to know much about Watergate, or Richard Nixon, to watch the movie, though if you don’t it’ll be less interesting. But what it’s about is how a British journalist/TV host with a lightweight reputation managed to not only snag the fist in-depth interview with a heavyweight but also land some serious blows and, arguably, a knockout punch.
Written by Peter Morgan, who adapted his own play, the film begins with David Frost (Michael Sheen) as the affable but scheming celebrity-interview specialist. (Think of a cross between Barbara Walters and Geraldo Rivera.) But of a playboy too. Frost spends half the movie trying to get enough money to buy Nixon’s cooperation. Even the interview segments are not simply a condensate of the programs that in 1977 drew a record US television audience for an interview, but rather focus on the strategies of the combatants. For Richard Nixon (Frank Langella), it was something like Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope—let Frost use up his time flailing away at him while he calmly, presidentially, rolled with the punches and delivered lengthy, unrevealing answers.
Besides Morgan’s cohesive screenplay, Frost/Nixon is anchored by the powerful performances of both leads. Sheen’s Frost follows the same trajectory as his Tony Blair in The Queen (also written by Morgan); he becomes a more serious person as the film goes on. Langella’s Nixon is masterful; Nixon is a man whose voice and mannerisms are easily parodied, but Langella makes him into a real person, and not simply a villain. While I have no doubt that Nixon deserved to have resigned, I was not without sympathy for him while watching this, even as a rooted for Frost to take him down. Of the supporting actors, Kevin Bacon is most notable as Nixon’s fiercely loyal aide, Jack Brennan.
Everyone knows how this ends. Nixon would spend the next twenty years continuing to attempt to resuscitate his image, Frost was knighted in 1993, and other presidents went on to abuse their power. But the lesson of the movie is, beware the journalist with something to prove. It might’ve helped Sarah Palin to watch Nixon/Frost before she agreed to talk to Katie Couric.
IMDB link
viewed 12/19/08 at Ritz 5; reviewed 2/14/09
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