Frost Nixon 2008
Nominated for Best Picture and with raves about Frank Langella as Nixon, this movie had great potential. Langella (who is so often good, but who I just loved in Dave) definitely turns in a great performance capturing the complexity of a deposed Richard Nixon. Set up as a duel of wits between lightweight but television-savvy David Frost and the heavyweight Richard Nixon, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more to that angle. Instead this is really a character study of these two plus a few other supporting characters. Though most of the plot focuses on David Frost and his team preparing for the interview and trying to sell it to the networks, I didn’t think Frost was nearly as interesting. It is still a good movie (made less so if you read about the liberties taken with actual events, letting quite a bit of air out of the drama) but it wasn’t nearly the chess match I was expecting, but I can’t go into that any further without ruining the plot.
It probably still deserves a nomination for Best Picture, but primarily because 2008 seems like such a weak year for really good movies. B+
Written: 01 Feb 2009
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital