Director Ron Howard certainly nows how to ratchet up the tension doesn't he?Frost Nixon plays like the love child of a really good documentary and a mediocre TV movie heightened by some brilliant performances.
Michael Sheen is charismatic as David Frost, but doesn't seem to convey the desperation Frost surely must have felt when things started falling apart.
Frank Langella as Richard Nixon carries the film, and indeed, when he was not on screen I found my attention drifting to playing solitaire on my phone. The performance perfectly captures a man who is fearful of being revealed, but needing to get a great weight off his chest. The times Langella truly shines though, is not in the intense sparring scenes with Sheen, but instead in the quieter reflective moments when the very flawed man has time to ponder about who he is, and what the world thinks of him.
The screenplay, although gripping, also tends to become rather simplistic. I especially had to chuckle to myself when, near the end, they show Sheen studying hard for the last interview in a montage.
When in doubt, use a montage.
Although this is a major contender for awards season and expectations were high, I am not disappointed in the film. It kept me entertained for two hours and that is a relief considering that it could have been so much worse.
B
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