Movie Review
Frost/Nixon
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed By Adam A. Donaldson

It’s interesting timing that I should be sitting down to write this review on the same weekend that Mark Felt died. Felt, as the Number 2 man at the FBI in 1972, was ideally placed to deal the administration of Richard Nixon a crushing blow when he gave Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward the precious confirmation. That confirmation was that Nixon not only knew of the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate in advanced, but that he sanctioned it, and engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover it up.

The sequence of events saw public pressure and a Congressional investigation force Nixon into resigning. His former VP and successor as President Gerald Ford gave his former boss a full pardon. Many Americans, upset and angry over such a breach of trust and already with a head full of steam following Vietnam, believed that Ford conned them out of seeing Nixon get the trial he deserved. As well as getting the full story about the flagrant abusive of power and one man’s arrogant presumption that he could control it all. For a lot of reporters, getting Nixon on the record post-Watergate was the Holy Grail of journalism at the time. But strangely enough, it was a little heard of British TV host named David Frost that got the prize, and the scoop.

Based on the Tony Award winning play by Peter Morgan (The Queen), Frost/Nixon follows the little thought of UK TV personality and how he not only got the biggest interview of the decade, but got the closest thing to a confession Nixon never gave. Michael Sheen plays Frost, a man that banks everything he’s got, as well as the financial good will of friends, in order to get up the capital to interview Nixon, played by Frank Langella. Nixon is encouraged to do the interview by staffers who think that Frost will be a pushover and that the former President will be able to rehabilitate his reputation in what they presume is going will be a puff piece. The set-up is four, 2-hour interviews divided into four topics with the final portion reserved for Watergate.

What’s interesting is that under the direction of Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon isn’t some ultra-serious provocateur enshrining the power of the press over corrupt politicians. Instead it’s just kind of fun. A bit like Frost in the early going it’s kind of light and carefree and full of confidence as if the task at hand will be an easy one. But of course, Nixon wasn’t called “Tricky Dick” for nothing, and if Frost has anything he wants to salvage, then he has to hunker down and push himself to truly face his rival. Still, I don’t think the film ever loses that sense of play, and it treats the interview not as a trial, but as a dual of thought and discussion. Sure, Frost had facts on his side, but Nixon could filibuster with the best of them.

Well suited to Howard’s talents, Frost/Nixon is an actor’s film. And while Langella doesn’t quite sound or look like Nixon, we more than compensates by filling the personality of the President. He’s shifty and shrewd with a hint of self-doubt while occasionally being cold but somehow being constantly sweaty. Sheen conversely manages a pretty good swagger and a used car salesman grin as Frost, who on the outside is full of charm and cheer, but on the inside you can see the genuine worry about whether he’s betting the house on a fool’s errand and whether or not he’s capable of meeting the minimum mission requirements.

Kevin Bacon and Sam Rockwell play Jack Brennan and James Reston respectively. Brennan was Nixon’s chief of staff and seemingly one of the few people that still holds Nixon in some kind of esteem, and Bacon plays the role of protector with an wonderful degree of poise and determination. Meanwhile, Rockwell’s Reston is the prototypical Nixon hater, whose sole purpose for joining Frost on the endeavour is to hoist Nixon on his own petard, and he’s single-mindedly driven in his desire to hold Frost to doing just that. There’s a great scene where Nixon arrives for the first interview and while Reston says that he’ll adamantly refuse to shake his hand, he natural does anyway when the moment’s upon him.

Backed by solid performances and based on an interesting bit of political and television history, Frost/Nixon explores how determination and inexperience can best the resources and the talent of even the smoothest of political operators. It’s a tale with some interesting parallels given the times and seeing where the Americans are going with their current political leadership, it could be seen as the shape of things to come. On it’s own though, the film is about a great verbal sparring match between two worthy adversaries, and is proof for the masses that all good things come to he or she who waits.