Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard, 2008): USA / UK

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed at the Arc Light in Hollywood, CA.

One of my favorite film genres happens to be political dramas. My favorite television show of all time is The West Wing and some of my favorite films involve elections and government. For that reason, I was extremely interested in seeing Ron Howard’s docudrama Frost/Nixon and although it is a well crafted, well performed piece of filmmaking (#7 on my top ten list of 2008), it still leaves something to be desired.

Set shortly after the Watergate Scandal forced Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) out of office, the film follows TV talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) as he begins negotiations to interview the disgraced President. After laying out $600,000, Frost books Nixon and assembles a team of crack investigators to help prepare him for the interviews. But when the interviews begin, Nixon proves to be a worthy adversary, forcing Frost to dig deeper while risking everything to get the truth.

The film follows a standard narrative structure but at times jumps into a “mockumentary” style with flash forwards to key players being interviewed in the future. Although Howard, Langella, Sheen will no doubt be nominated for numerous awards, the film seemed to lack one fundamental: a spectacular script. Writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) failed to bring the drama of the interviews to life. I watched some of the real interviews online and found them more interesting than the adaptation Morgan created.

But even with flaws in the script, Frost/Nixon is still an excellent film, thanks to Ron Howard’s indelible directing. Howard created powerful moments using the camera where I felt the script fell flat. As with most Ron Howard films, Hanz Zimmer properly captured the mood of the era and the action in his score and the period costumes designed by Daniel Orlandi are perfect.

Overall, Frost/Nixon is a well made film with a few flaws. My recommendation would be, if you enjoy films about politics (like me), watch it. If not, this film will most likely bore you beyond belief.