Rating of
3.5/4
Frost/Nixon review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/09/11
Frank Langella (Richard Nixon) and Michael Sheen (David Frost) star in this historical drama about the life of an ex-President and a talk show host who wants to interview him. Due to lack of funding Frost markets the program to different TV networks but to no avail. He hires Bob Zelnick (Oliver Platt) and James Reston Jr. (Sam Rockwell) to join his team with his producer/friend John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen). The camp of Nixon has agreed to 3 recording sessions with Pres. Nixon and David. The final interview involved grittier issues related to Charles Colson and “the cover-up” in which Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) eventually stops the taping for his boss not to answer the controversial question. In the end, the truth prevailed and Frost becomes widely popular because of the success of the interviews. Some memorable lines: Richard Nixon – “I let them down. I let down my friends, I let down my country, and worst of all I let down our system of government, and the dreams of all those young people that ought to get into government but now they think: "Oh it's all too corrupt and the rest." David Frost: “Are you really saying the President can do something illegal?” Richard Nixon: “I'm saying that when the President does it, it's not illegal!”
The cast did a splendid job in recreating the actual figures involved in the course of the 1977 program involving David Frost and Richard Nixon. Some inaccuracies such as the phone call Nixon made to Frost, Jack Brennan in real life was a comical person, and Caroline Cushing (Rebecca Hall) first met David in a Muhammad Ali fight in Zaire. The acting of Sheen was bland, gestures of cockiness, smiles, and a bit of drama the night before the final taping. Frank Langella did a respectable job portraying the President; some angles during the film really remind you of Nixon. The cinematography/score was apt; the script comprehensive and character development was sound. Frost/Nixon symbolizes human frailties, coping with inner demons and admitting mistakes. Not all ex-Presidents would admit their flaws, I would know coming from a corrupt country. It shows humanity, the media’s hunger for somebody to fail and how we can redeem ourselves. The movie despite its imperfections still manages to touch you in a way that not every picture can.
