RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Frost/Nixon (2008)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
92 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:13

Fresh:12

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Frost/Nixon is weighty and eloquent; a cross between a boxing match and a ballet with Oscar worthy performances.

Rated: 15

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:23-01-2009

Synopsis: Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy... Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the untold story of the historic encounter that changed both: Frost/Nixon. Reprising their roles from Morgan's stageplay are Frank Langella, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Nixon, and Michael Sheen, who fully inhabited the part of Frost onstage in London and New York.

For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans.

Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity -- ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth.

Frost/Nixon not only re-creates the on-air interview, but the weeks of around-the-world, behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the two men and their camps as negotiations were struck, deals were made and secrets revealed...all leading to the moment when they would sit facing one another in the court of public opinion.

Frost/Nixon is a collaboration between Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Films, with Academy Award® winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard joining Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as producers. Joining Langella and Sheen as the colorful real-life personalities who provide the men counsel is a formidable roster of actors including Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Toby Jones and Matthew Macfadyen. --© Universal Pictures [More]

Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones

Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew MacFadyen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell

Director: Ron Howard

Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Peter Morgan
Producer: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Studio: Universal Pictures

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
    Interview Achievements
    >
    Only One Can Win
    >
    The Frost Interview
    >
  • Bad Interview
    >
    Switched Roles
    >
    Illegal Acts
    >
    Ron Howard
    >
  • Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen & Oliver Platt
    >
    Michael Sheen
    >
    Frank Langella
    >
1 - 4 of 11

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Frost/Nixon

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Stirring stuff that works thrillingly as drama, and should make Sheen a star, even if it compromises on historical insight.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/09
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The outcome isn’t half as conflicted as you might imagine, though it’s hard to argue that Howard brings anything new to Morgan’s play.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/23/09
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Thought Ron Howard was going to stuff it up? Think again - Frost/Nixon's a great advert for stage-to-screen adaptations. And if you'd forgotten the power of the close-up, prepare to be dazzled by dapper Dave and Tricky Dick.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
01/23/09
Richard Luck
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It sounds like an awful night out in the cinema. But you will be amazed. In Frost/Nixon Ron Howard turns this duel between Michael Sheen’s glossy playboy and Frank Langella’s shifty ex-President into a gripping tango of egos.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I found myself disconcerted and underwhelmed by a hugely anticipated movie. It never quite escapes its stage origins, and under a glitzy surface of period stylings doesn't seem to have much to say.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Langella is the reason to see the film, smuggling his lugubrious Tricky Dicky well past the script's limited grasp. It's a superb performance, looming like a spectre over the words and deeds of "misunderestimated" politicians everywhere.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
01/23/09
Tim Robey
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/09
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The result is involving, engrossing cinema -- more thrilling, in fact, than Howard’s The Da Vinci Code -- filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/16/08
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Langella is not a natural Nixon; he has a voluptuary's face and a self-assurance the president only dreamed of. So he burrows into Nixon and comes out with a figure who is less a simulacrum than the definitive interpretation.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
12/12/08
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film begins as a fascinating inside look at the TV news business and then tightens into a spellbinding thriller.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/11/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It’s twinkle versus glower in the big-screen edition of Peter Morgan’s theatrical smackdown Frost/Nixon.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/04/08
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Less a political movie than a boxing film without the gloves.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
10/16/08
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Although it all pays off in a potent and revelatory final act rife with insights into the psychology and calculations of power players, the initial stretch is rather dry and prosaic.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/16/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
all

Latest News for Frost/Nixon

February 24, 2009: Backstage at the Oscars: My First Time
In the movie world there is no event greater, no red carpet glitzier, no awards show more meaningful, than that of the Academy Awards. While millions watch the biggest night... More...

February 01, 2009: Slumdog's Danny Boyle Wins DGA Award
Danny Boyle takes home another win for Best Director from the Director's Guild of America -- could Oscar gold be just around the corner? See who else was nominated this year in... More...

January 22, 2009: Critics Consensus: Inkheart Is Less Than Magical
This week at the movies, we've got living literature (Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser and Eliza Hope Bennett); political intrigue (Frost/Nixon, starring Michael Sheen and... More...

January 22, 2009: Box Office Guru Preview: Underworld Battles Oscar All-Stars
Only two new releases hit the North American box office, but in the wake of Academy Award nominations, a handful of contenders take the opportunity to expand nationwide hoping... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
67% 67% Public Enemies
75% 75% Julie & Julia
95% 95% The Cove
85% 85% World's Greatest Dad

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Cameron Explains Blue Avatar Aliens Source: MTV
10
  • Matt Damon Expects Greengrass to Return for Fourth Bourne Source: Collider.com
4
  • Burton's Dark Shadows Rising in 2010 Source: Sci Fi Wire
1
  • Exclusive: The World of Where the Wild Things Are
27
  • Peter Jackson Talks Hobbit, LotR Blu-ray Source: Collider.com
20
  • Woman Jailed for Filming New Moon Screening Source: Chicago Sun-Times
17
  • McG Has Plans for Fifth and Sixth Terminator Movies Source: Gizmodo
201
  • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
22
  • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
24
  • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
26
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
83
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
57
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
50
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
46
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
41
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
40
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
37
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: The Blind Side Takes the Lead
29
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
28
  • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Harry Potter, and more!
24
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films With Avatar's Sam Worthington
24
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Frost/Nixon at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Frost/Nixon at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.