Nixon/Frost is another nice guy Ron Howard history movie. Much like Apollo 13 and is others there is no real bad guy. In fact, this may be the kindest representation of Richard Nixon that I have ever seen. Frank Langella gives a brilliant performance as Tricky Dick, but he lacks, in his performance, the Nixon's Redneck quality. It is easy for another from Southern Californian to spot the Okie in Nixon; as he is our son from Whittier, California. Langella gives Nixon a statesman like quality only befitting the great Ben Franklin. Likewise Michael Seen seems too sweet and nurturing than the real David Frost who always seemed a bit crass to me. You can catch the Real Nixon and Frost interviews on DVD, and David Frost was on the Daily Show last month taking about it.
As a film, it is very enjoyable, but it lacks any real drama that will truly gets you sucked in. It seems like there might be some good drama coming at times, then movie pulls back.
The story of the movie, tells the tale of talk show host David Frost, a Brit. He is an entertainment television host in the 1970's with funny hair and shirts to go along with it. He wants to interview Richard Nixon after Watergate. It is the holy grail of interviews. So, they offer Nixon a truck load of money. The Nixon camp thinks that they can just walk all over Frost and take his money.
Frost has the opportunity of a life time, in fact it was the big break of his career. The only problem is nobody else can see the potential, so he has problems getting funding. Everyone turns him down and he and his friends finance the project alone.
He does hire a couple of solid investigators, but they need to Frost to really sell it hard to Nixon. Nixon being an old pro and a quick mind walks all over him. In the end, Frost gives it his college try and has a show down with the former owner of Checkers, the dog. The loser of the in 1960 Presidential elections does admit to wrong doing in Watergate.
Frost/Nixon is the perfect medium brow film to make you feel like an intellectual when you are not. I should mention that it has a terrific cast that make the movie very watch-able of Rebecca Hall, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon.
