Excellent all around

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2008)

Gripping account of Richard Nixon's first television interview after resigning from the Presidency. It was conducted by a man who was strictly an entertainer, Englishman David Frost, who believed it would be a great way to become famous in America. At the beginning, he has no real convictions, but the researchers he has hired (Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell) motivate him to attempt to give Nixon the conviction he never received from the American justice system. When the interviews begin, it turns out to be a David and Goliath story, with Frost unable to compete with Nixon. The strongest point of the film are the performances. Langella in particular hits a homerun, giving perhaps the best fictional performance of Richard Nixon yet in cinema. Much like in The Queen, which was also written by playwright Peter Morgan, Michael Sheen holds his own against a powerhouse performer. Also great are Kevin Bacon, playing Nixon's former Chief of Staff, now a defeated, hurt man desperately trying to redeem his boss, and Sam Rockwell, as Frost's most passionate researcher. Though based on a play, Frost/Nixon almost never betrays that origin. It's intimate, but open. I don't know how much you can credit director Ron Howard with the film's success  I imagine that its success belongs more to the actors and Morgan  but it is by quite a distance the best movie he's ever directed.