Frost/Nixon provides an enjoyable history lesson for some and triggers memories of a tumultuous period in American history for others.
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:210
Fresh:192
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: Frost/Nixon is weighty and eloquent; a cross between a boxing match and a ballet with Oscar worthy performances.
Theatrical Release:23-01-2009
Synopsis:
OscarŽ-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...
OscarŽ-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 AwardŽ 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
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
Reviews for Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard has the benefit of being able to structure the film's entire second act around close-ups, which allows his two fine leading actors to convey the smallest details of emotional turmoil
Brisk and intense, with Howard and company rising to the challenge of recreating the infamous 1977 television interview David Frost scored with disgraced former U.S. president, Richard M. Nixon.
When the movie version of Frost/Nixon was being cast, Frank Langella might well have been bypassed. Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty were mentioned, but Langella survived and got the role. On screen Langella nails -- or fangs -- Nixon. Langella does not m
The stage play-turned-big screen Oscar contender zips along from scene to scene with rare pep until building to a furious climax. And remember, this isn't a movie about alien invasions or pirate ghosts. It's a movie about two guys talking.
While the main character is Michael Sheen's David Frost, Frank Langella is fascinating as the cold and withdrawn Richard Nixon.
Textbook example of a Howard film -- with exactly the strengths and weaknesses this conveys. It differs only in that it's built around Frank Langella's towering performance.
A history lesson and an acting lesson tied up in one stunning entertainment package.
[Howard takes] a cue from himself, from his own first truly great film more than a decade ago, Apollo 13... [T]here's an almost documentary-style straightforwardness to Frost/Nixon...
Did it happen exactly this way? Probably not. But what fun to consider the details and the possible events before, and after, the interview between David Frost and disgraced President Richard Nixon
I don't remember much about them [the interviews]...director Ron Howard packages Frost/Nixon with the best quotes from 28 hours of interviews, I will never forget them.
Documentary-style reminiscences from supporting characters slow the film's momentum. The run-up to the big broadcasts, too, aren't so suspenseful. The best drama comes from Langella and Sheen as Nixon and Frost, and not necessarily while they're face-to-f
Langella's Nixon is a tragic figure... Langella doesn't so much make him sympathetic as show us the flawed personality trying to avoid blaming himself for his failure.
The best boxing movie of 2008; with words and wits instead of gloves and fists
Howard takes the political trivia of the interviews between the cunning, disgraced former president and the British showman, turning it into engrossing entertainment.
Howard, a highly competent filmmaker if not a great one, rarely gets in the way of his actors or Morgan's sharply written script, and 'Frost/Nixon' is probably the better for it.
The movie transforms the wily Nixon into a sympathetic figure -- a familiarly 'complicated' movie character, and hardly one of the darkest and most fascinating souls in 20th century America.
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