It's a deceptively juicy film that runs straight for the audience while reaching for the jugular.
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:210
Fresh:192
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: Frost/Nixon is weighty and eloquent; a cross between a boxing match and a ballet with Oscar worthy performances.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Dec 26, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $18,593,156
Synopsis:
Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy...
Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the untold story of the historic encounter that changed both: Frost/Nixon. Reprising their roles from Morgan's stageplay are Frank Langella, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Nixon, and Michael Sheen, who fully inhabited the part of Frost onstage in London and New York.
For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans.
Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity -- ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth.
Frost/Nixon not only re-creates the on-air interview, but the weeks of around-the-world, behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the two men and their camps as negotiations were struck, deals were made and secrets revealed...all leading to the moment when they would sit facing one another in the court of public opinion.
Frost/Nixon is a collaboration between Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Films, with Academy Award® winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard joining Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as producers. Joining Langella and Sheen as the colorful real-life personalities who provide the men counsel is a formidable roster of actors including Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Toby Jones and Matthew Macfadyen.
--© Universal Pictures
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew MacFadyen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell
Director: Ron Howard
Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Peter Morgan
Producer: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Frost/Nixon
Political thriller Frost/Nixon is one of the best and most surprising movies of the year.
Langella and Sheen deliver striking portrayals that avoid superficial mimicry for something more satisfying
More thrilling than a boxing match with no punches spared, this riveting revisiting of a historic moment in time has a little bit of everything %u2013 humour, tension and an exposé of the most compelling ingredient of all %u2013 humanity
Howard can't, as someone mentions in the film, distinguish between a performer and a journalist
Entertaining and provocative...a satisfying intellectual bout. [Blu-ray]
Clearly the work of a mature filmmaker, one with the patience and self confidence to make a smart film whose success is largely in the hands of its talented cast.
Peter Morgan's play about the behind-the-scenes research, negotiation and fundraising that produced the Frost-Nixon interviews may not sound like natural-born movie material...But the talk is choice, and the film... is mesmerizing.
The history lesson is a nice bonus, but it's the art and the acting that give the film its power and resonance.
The director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind serves up a merely pleasing, vaguely edifying tale of penitence and redemption, or something like that.
Estupendo cine sobre periodismo y política, que logra fascinar con sus entretelones de una entrevista crucial que es presentada casi como si fuera una pelea de boxeo.
Nixon is infinitely more complex than George W. Bush, which is probably why this one slice of his life is more intriguing than "W," which covers decades.
Even though we know the outcome, once again the magic works for Ron Howard and a fine cast of actors.
Frost/Nixon provides an enjoyable history lesson for some and triggers memories of a tumultuous period in American history for others.
Ron Howard has the benefit of being able to structure the film's entire second act around close-ups, which allows his two fine leading actors to convey the smallest details of emotional turmoil
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