Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (31 August 2009)

While this is not a bad film, and is no doubt enjoyed by people with a keener interest in politics than me, it seems to fall flat in a number of areas.
Firstly, it's hard to care about either participant: in the film, Nixon is a mean-spirited man thrown out of the top job for criminal activity, but long unwilling to acknowledge that it was his own fault. Frost is shown as a rather lazy playboy who only "does his homework" in the nick of time.
Secondly, can we believe in what we're seeing? Michael Sheen as usual does a very good impersonation of Frost, as well as convincing us that he understands the character. Frank Langella is less successful as Nixon: while his performance is generally competent, he only bears a passing resemblance to the ex-President, and clearly gets Nixon's accent wrong. If this is obvious to me even as a "Brit", then there must be quite a few Americans who find his voice grating. I realise that actors are about more than just impersonation, but convincing the audience that they could be watching the real life characters is part of the essence of this kind of film and, for me, this aspect didn't work.
Thirdly, the whole thing is just a bit over-dramatised: necessary, perhaps, just to keep us watching, but at times it becomes rather silly. I agree absolutely with the other poster here who says "the Frost/Nixon interviews were merely a relatively inconsequential event here being treated as if they were life-and-death".
Overall, a moderately entertaining film, but only worth watching if you have nothing better to do, or are a keen student of 20th century US history.