Spectacularly done - with a caveat

Rating: 8/10 (17 May 2009)

Mesmerizing film on the Frost/Nixon interviews that electrified the public after several torturous years with Watergate news articles, hearings, and eventual first resignation of an American president. This movie is a documentary style work involving how the interviews came about and the people involved on the two teams; Frost and his producer, researchers, and girlfriend on one side with Nixon, his staff, and family on the other. It succeeds brilliantly in staying away from mimicry of the two personalities that would otherwise be impossible to convincingly duplicate with impersonation. The viewer is soon pulled away from the sense that actors Sheen (playing Frost) and Langella (playing Nixon) are not the people portrayed, but are intensely credible likenesses.
The film starts with a small amount of actual footage running up to the Nixon resignation and then starts to blend in the produced film sequences. The look of the film color is intentionally off-color to give it a mid-70's period film quality (overly bright and warm with some haze). Frost finds out that getting air time (re: financing) for an unpopular ex-president interview is not fruitful. But he boldly continues to stretch for that bit of fame that will take him back in the TV mainstream. Remember, this was a time that TV executives were abhorrent to the notion of paying for interviews. On the other side, Nixon was looking for a way to make a buck, so a good sized check for doing interviews by a lightweight entertainment interviewer was an attractive proposition.
The acting and dialog steal the show. Comparing favorably with "Milk", this film bubbles with timely dialog between the two lead actors. Of course, they had to be spot on in order to make it convincing and emotionally satisfying. The only part of the film I question is one of the moments leading up to the all-important Watergate interview session between Nixon and Frost when Frost is in his hotel suite. I don't want to give this pivotal moment away except that I found out later that this didn't happen. It is a riveting piece of film, but the fact that it was a fictionalized segment hurts the credibility of the film and I feel as if I was managed by the film makers. I think anyone going to see a movie based on fact should have the option of knowing if they can take the information at face value. For instance, almost all movie goers know "The Da Vinci Code" isn't a credible source of religious teachings, but it is still a fun movie to see as long as one doesn't use it as a basis for fact. Here, it appears almost all of the events are pretty accurate except for this one moment. For this, and this alone, I can only give it an 8 out of 10 versus a 10/10 it would otherwise deserve.
"Frost/Nixon" deserves viewing for those who lived the Watergate era and those who didn't. The performances and production are a tremendous plus and the story is particularly pertinent as we are now faced with another questionable presidency for the past eight years showing how a president can choose to impart his will beyond his constitutional powers for the things he believes is right. History repeats itself again.