Frost/Nixon: Political, Studious, and Entertaining as Hell

Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, and Oliver Platt.

Last night I was finally able to see an advance screening of Frost/Nixon down here in D.C.; it opened last week in the typical NY/LA platform release, and I'd been dying to see what had become a critical triumph when many initially thought mediocre reviews would kill it. (Consider this the first in what will be a regular series of mini-movie reviews, each closing with my take on their chances.)

I wasn't disappointed -- Frost/Nixon is all it's promising to be. But what surprised me was how thoroughly watchable it is; accompanied by its dramatic lead-up, watching two people sit in chairs and talk to each other really does play out like the boxing match the title punctuation suggests. Ron Howard has often been criticized as a direct without much of a style, but he's drastically underestimated as a director who can make any subject -- without cheapening it -- palatable to the masses.

For that alone, he should be a major contender for Best Director, but currently, he's not. It's unfortunate he had to win for A Beautiful Mind, because it was far from Howard at his Apollo 13, and now Frost/Nixon, best.

I have one complaint, and it's a very minor one: a scene before their final interview in which Nixon, drunk, calls Frost, goes on for way too long. The scene is part of an invented dramatic conceit by the writer, Peter Morgan, and that's fine, but it's the only time when the movie lets on that it was adapted from the stage (from a play also by Morgan). I can see it working in that medium, but it didn't gel with the otherwise brisk pacing of the film.

I'd Nominate it For: Best Picture, Best Director, Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

But it'll Get Nominated For: Best Picture, Frank Langella for Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay

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