He's not a snowman, he's not a poet...

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2009)

He's probably the world's bravest interviewer in all of American History. This film is the story of David Frost and the four part interview he had with former President Richard M. Nixon. But if you think that these interviews were just any ordinary interview that you would see on Letterman, Leno, or O'Brien, well, you will be pleasantly surprised about this movie.
Let me give you some history behind the movie. After Nixon resigned from office due to heighten controversy about the Watergate scandal, Nixon was trying to redeem himself from the mistake by showing America that it was a non-intentional mistake. He was planning to write a memoir about his life journey and even go to a few interviews, hoping that through the words that he wrote and spoke, that America can forgive him for his past wrong-doings and remember him as a legacy for incredible achievements such as being the first President to have good connections with China. But then he saw David Frost's offer for an interview and Nixon and his team basically said that they could bully David Frost on air and make David Frost look stupid and Nixon look very presidential. But what Nixon did not know about this was that David Frost's funds for this interview was coming out of Frost's dear friends, or as I like to say, "Beg, borrow, and steal." So Frost was not going to let Nixon "bully" him around on air. He was going to give Nixon a fight.
And that was a huge premise of the movie. While you watch the movie, it is treated like a boxing match or a fight. You see the two opponents on each side of the ring with their entourage, giving them pep talk, developing strategies on what to do or what to say, and helping them on how to tick off their opponent. Also, the interviews that were conducted were very intense and thrilling (especially the last interview). I was legitimately and thoroughly hanging on every word and stall in the interview and that was what made the movie so great. The anxiety of those interviews and the raging wit and word war between Nixon and Frost.
Frank Langella was probably the best Richard Nixon impression ever since Anthony Hopkins. Even though Langella did not look anything like the real Richard Nixon, his movements, his way of speaking, and his expressions all really emphasized the idea of not just his impression of Nixon, but also how Nixon was not at all a nice guy and how Nixon became known as "Tricky Dick." And let me not forget about Michael Sheen and his great performance as David Frost in this film.
I thought that the beginning of the movie was rather rushed a little and in some ways, not favorable, but everything else was just marvelous. Also, there was so much limelight on the two characters David Frost and Richard Nixon to the point that all the other characters in the movie just seemed like shadows. But then again, you can make a backfire about that by saying that the movie is solely based on the interviews with Nixon and Frost, thusly, being called Frost/Nixon. And I liked that because if this movie were to go off into the other characters for too long, I would have been condemning the movie more.
But if you are interested in politics, especially one that involves Nixon and Watergate, I highly recommend this movie to you. Thusly, I give this movie a low eight.