Bad portray of Nixon but a good entertainment

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2009)

I must admit that I had high expectations for this movie as the real Frost/Nixon interviews are a historical gem. A lot has been written about the good parts of the movie so I'm gonna write about what I thought was wrong with it.
Firstly, I can't understand why so many here are praising Langella's performance. I didn't think he was a good Nixon. I never really thought he quite got the part right. Of course it's a little unfair but that's just what I thought. Definitely not an Oscar-worthy performance. In the close-ups (that really portray Nixon's state of mind in the real interviews) Langella just didn't cut it for me.
Secondly, I can't understand why screenwriters left many of the best parts of the real interview on the editing floor. By that I mean the Camp David story, the Eisenhower-Adams bit and the one where Nixon talks about the hours before he resigned. Watching those three bits in the real interview (which I strongly advise everyone that's reading this to do) you can just see and feel the agony Nixon is going through.
To do my rating some justice I will say that I enjoyed the movie in spite of the faults. In fact I couldn't decide if to give it six or seven stars. I ended up giving it seven. But I think it was mainly due to the fact that I like the real Interviews so much. Michael Sheen was pretty good.