The personality chasm between Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and
David Frost (Michael Sheen) is what tries to ground Ron Howard’s take
of Peter Morgan’s stage play. Recounting Frost’s famous 1977 interview
with the former US president, and its backstage struggle,
Frost/Nixon boasts good performances and historical interest.
But it misses out on the political tension the material deserves.
Frost’s interest in boosting ratings with the expensive interviews
becomes a different matter for his cohorts, who pressure him to rake
Nixon over the coals. Howard resists succumbing to a predictable smear
job, but the clash of ideology should make incendiary cinema. Frost’s
transformation from phony British talk-show host to liberal crusader
lacks gravity. What does is the two men’s recognition of human
difference. Nixon is the cold intellectual; a prisoner of his own
behaviour. Frost lives for the party. Nixon’s rumination on who he
could have been is the movie’s backbone, but it’s too late in the game.
Howard keeps things engaging without looking his material in the eye.
More comfortable with a good movie than a great one, he plays safe.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.