Engrossing cinema from a great Hollywood professional

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2009)

Say what you want about Ron Howard, but he does manage to create engaging dramas within the confines of the Hollywood system. His strike rate for quality is solid. Even his box office flop, "The Missing", is one of recent memory's most underrated gems. With "Frost/Nixon", he takes a potentially boring subject for cinematic reconstruction (a stage play about David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon) and builds a dramatic powerhouse. How does he do it? He starts with a great script by Peter Morgan (the man who wrote the terrific "The Queen", another subject that could have turned over and died) and he casts the same people who were in the stage play, Frank Langella (Nixon) and Michael Sheen (David Frost). He adds a bunch of none-too-shabby supporting players such as Toby Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon, and he blends everything with a professionalism that doesn't feel forced or look too polished. Howard's no-style style always works in favor of his material because it allows the material to lead. Frost was just a journalistic lightweight when he approached Nixon for an interview. Nixon knew it. That's exactly why Nixon agreed to be interviewed. He was confident that he'd be able to walk all over Frost in front of millions of Americans and convince them that he wasn't the bad guy they all thought he was. With the interviews taking place over several days, Nixon gets the upper hand early on and looks destined to achieve his goals. What he didn't count on was Frost getting better and smarter. By the time the last interview was scheduled, Frost, working with his cohorts, had gathered so much obscure intel on the ex-Prez that he only had to throw Dicky the right length of rope. As history recorded, the man took it and hung himself (figuratively speaking). As you would expect, the performances are superb and the film's pacing is swift. Howard gives us fascinating details and fascinating character moments that amount to something much bigger and much better than a filmed stage play. This is engrossing cinema.