A surprisingly first-rate film

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2009)

Before seeing Frost/Nixon, I didn't think much of Ron Howard as a director (both A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 struck me as no more than mediocre commercial jobs). Despite my long admiration for Frank Langella's work on stage and for Kevin Bacon's work on screen, I expected no more than a moderately OK movie). Underwhelmed by most of the new 2008 movies (f'rinstance, except for Cate Blanchett, Benjamin Button disappointed in every aspect), the best 2 new 2008 movies I saw were Edge of Heaven and Stop-Loss (OK, I'm quirky, so what?). Until Frost/Nixon, that is. Its excellence in every area astonished me. Best movie of the year, best directing, best acting by the male lead, best adaptation. The supporting actors were admirable, especially Kevin Bacon, which came as no surprise (though if I were a voter, my vote for supporting actor would go to Robert Downey). I cannot praise Ron Howard enough for using his commercial skills as solid building blocks for a film partly about people selling entertainment and themselves in a mass medium. Nor can I give enough praise to Langella, whose decades of acting experience paid off in what may be his most challenging role--of a man whose decades of performing for his own audience was, in a way, his own most challenging role.