What director Ron Howard has wrought in Frost/Nixon is riveting. Hands down this movie is best picture of the year material. Howard's handling of Peter Morgan's screenplay (itself an adaptation of Morgan's play) will be studied for years to come. Frank Langella’s Richard Nixon is a study in the flawless character presentation of a deeply complex man. David Frost is the perfect foil to the face of evil that Nixon continually presents to the public and to the man he hopes to trump and outwit. Frost/Nixon retells the historical interviews conducted by David Frost with subject Richard M. Nixon. Nixon is a ticking time bomb of information waiting to explode... but will he?
The film opens with the hapless career of David Frost. Michael Sheen’s Frost is believable, loveable, and cunning. He can’t get enough good exposure in England so he settles for bad exposure in Australia. Enter Nixon and the 43 million audience share who watch his televised farewell. The biggest names in network TV are chomping at the bit to interview the resigned president. According to the film, Frost is frankly the last man with the credibility to pull off any media coup, let alone this one.
Frost goes into overdrive to secure an interview with Nixon before the big dogs of journalism snag him first. But is he credible? Frost's first task is to buy Nixon's interview. The tension and conflict inherent in this decision consumes Frost and the first half of the film. Sheen's acting sags in these critical scenes. He is not clear on how to handle the inner Frost. Who is David Frost the man, talk-show host, and bon vivant? We are not really certain. Frost's character — what drives him — is not fleshed out. Conversely there is no doubt about Langella's Nixon — he is the former president for the duration of the film.
Frost has his chance to fall up the media ladder when Nixon’s gay/effeminate agent calls him in the middle of the night to accept the offer that has been booted up to a cool $600,000, the most ever paid for an interview. Nixon is giddy with greed over the prospect of taking easy media money. He and Kevin Bacon, who plays his aide and confidante Jack Brennan, have plans. This is fascinating stuff. Since the film retells the making of the Nixon/Frost interviews, the re-enactment of the taping sessions is in order, making up the second half of the film.
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