In a country with a limited history like the United States, truly fascinating figures are few and far between. This may be why the American people show such immense curiosity about former president Richard Nixon, one of the most Shakespearean characters this country has ever produced.
The film Frost/Nixon"" is the most recent look into the only U.S. president to resign his post, focusing on the disgraced leader's 1977 interview with British journalist David Frost (Michael Sheen), in which Frost questions Nixon (Frank Langella) on his involvement in the Watergate scandal. The story behind the interview creates a mesmerizing portrait of Tricky Dick thanks to the masterful acting of Langella, but the rest of the film unfortunately fails to reach the same heights.
The very soul of ""Frost/Nixon"" breathes through Langella, who has crafted the definitive Nixon performance. Langella doesn't do much of a Nixon impression, but he gets down to the very core of the man and completely inhabits his personality.
Somehow, he and director Ron Howard manage to make spending time with Richard Nixon one of the most enjoyable experiences of any film this year.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Nixon's counterpart David Frost is played decently enough by Sheen, but unlike his co-lead, Sheen never really gets to what makes his character tick.
Partially at fault is Peter Morgan's unfocused script, which points to several possible motivations for why Frost would choose to interview Nixon, but never delves deeply into any of them. At one point the film even suggests his efforts were jumpstarted by a drunk dial from Nixon himself, basically implying that one of the most important interviews of the 20th century had the same inspiration as a late-night booty call.
The rest of the cast is fleshed out with reliable Hollywood faces like Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt, though none of them is given much to do. Much of the time spent with these characters consists of them dispensing commentary, which not only takes time away from the more compelling main characters but also slows the story down.
Even worse, however, are the talking-head scenes, where ""Frost/Nixon"" comes to a screeching halt. In an attempt to mimic a documentary, many of the supporting characters speak directly into the camera and elaborate on the interview's historical context or other issues. This may have been interesting had it included the actual people depicted in the film, but instead it comes off as pointless and makes the film feel less authentic.
Despite these structural flaws, ""Frost/Nixon"" never gets bogged down so much that Langella's performance ceases to shine through. Although the film doesn't hit all its marks, Langella's performance is just as worthy of history as the character he plays, though thankfully for much more positive reasons.
Grade: BC
