I'm saying that when the President does it, it's *not* illegal!
Following the resignation of US President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella), television talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) wants to arrange a series of interviews with him to air on television. Part of the reason Frost thinks the interviews would be compelling to both the public and the television networks is that Nixon never admitted any guilt of or offered any apology for the Watergate scandal which led to his resignation.. Nixon believes he can railroad Frost, who is better known as a pop cultural entertainment styled interviewer than an investigative political interviewer. However, Frost has every intention on these interviews being hard hitting and pointed; in addition to his producer John Birt (Matthew MacFayden), Frost hires two investigative reporters known for their previous exposés on Nixon: Bob Zelnick (Olivier Platt) and Jim Reston (Sam Rockwell). Nixon's chief adviser for the interviews is his current chief of staff, Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon).
Directed by Ron Howard and written by Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon has been in my top 15 favorite movies of all time ever since I watched it. If I were to make the list of the most sharply and intelligently written scripts, It would probably end up in top 3. I believe the biggest and most astonishing art in screenwriting is being able to sustain the suspense, tension and audience's interest just with the incredible dialogue. Every line in the film is an example of excellent writing, the kind that doesn't let you to look away - you are glued to the screen.
But the script wouldn't be much without the excellent cast - both Frank Langella and Michael Sheen are just brilliant in their performances. Kevin Bacon delivers very underrated, wonderful performance and Olivier Platt, Matthew MacFayden and especially hilarious Sam Rockwell created extremely likable characters who bring in a lot of charisma and laughs to the movie. What I love about Frost/Nixon is that it has plenty of humorous moments - whether it's because of Bacon's deadpan delivery, Sheen's confused look as Langella goes on and on about one subject or the teasing dialogue between Platt and Rockwell and Rockwell's hilarious reactions to the events - it's all really funny.
We also get to see radiant Rebecca Hall here, as Frost's girlfriend who supports him during the whole process of getting the reviews to happen and conducting them and Toby Jones in yet another of his short, but very memorable performances.
Review of the film - HERE
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It kills me that I've never seen this. And I don't have a good reason as to why not.
ReplyDeleteIncredible cast, excellent director, amazing screenplay?
Wait. There's three reasons right there.
Very cool pick though. I'll add it to my queue.
I think it may be a nice change from the last two movies you reviewed :) I really think you will like this one a lot!
DeleteGreat post, Sati! Bummer that I haven't seen this yet, not sure why as I love Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, and there's also Matthew Macfadyen? I need to see this real soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's really a must-see, it still blows my mind Ron Howard made such an amazing movie :)
DeleteUrrgghhh! I've not seen it yet! and I'm so annoyed about that! It looks and sounds incredible!
ReplyDeleteThis can't do, I'm going to go and get a copy and watch it this month (because it's your movie of the month, obviously :D )
It really is fantastic. Normally I'm really not big on political scandal films but they really mentioned some important things here and even if you don't know much about Watergate the film is fascinating. Detailed, yet easy to follow.
DeleteAwesome, I hope you will like it!
I'm adding this to my watchlist as we speak. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I look forward to reading your thoughts on this one!
DeleteNice pick. Haven't seen this in a while, but I really enjoyed it. Fine performances and great writing, indeed. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it! I watch it every few months, I'm addicted to that film :)
Delete"...being able to sustain the suspense, tension and audience's interest just with the incredible dialogue"
ReplyDeleteThat's this film in a nutshell. It just drew me in.
I grew up watching David Frost on TV - he hosted a Sunday lunch time political show which my dad HAD to watch. I'd never known him as anything but a serious political journalist, so watching this and finding out more about how he got to where he was, was pretty interesting. Not to mention Michael Sheen's impeccable performance as him.
Sheen was so great in this movie. He is one of my favorite actors and he actually got a lot of praise from Frost himself for his work here, so I think that's the highest compliment for how believable his performance was :)
DeleteGood review Sati. I didn't love this flick like everybody else, but Langella and Sheen make it very, very entertaining and tense, almost to the point of you have no idea what's going to be said or done next between the two. However, I was a bit bummed out to read that apparently the president had all of this crap written out already and just gave a fake speech to make himself seem good. Boo Nixon! Boo!
ReplyDelete