Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard doesn’t let the American people down
Director Ron Howard, who has brought such a diverse range of entertainment to the large and small screens for over 40 years now tackles one of the most significant news events of the 1970s. You may not see the dramatic possibilities in a movie about a series of 30 year old news interviews. But the interviews themselves are simply a means to end in a film that’s really about a battle between two men with a lot to lose. All crafted with love by little Opie Cunningham (sorry, Mr. Howard, the rest of this review should more than make it up to you).
For people of my age group (data withheld for national security purposes) the name Ron Howard conjures two spectrums of cultural significance. First, of course, many of us grew up knowing him as little Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham in Happy Days. Both are firmly ingrained in pop culture from the 60s and 70s. Those that watched the final few seasons of Happy Days remember the little elbow nod to Howard in how he was written out of the show, having his character move out to Hollywood to pursue a career as a director, in the real world why Howard left the most successful and lucrative job in his life at the time.
In most fan’s eyes, it was an oft repeated mistake made in the blindness of a pie-in-the-sky dream by many actors. Of course, for all us kids that used to spend significant portions of our grade school recesses having deep philosophical discussions regarding the complex interpersonal relationships of Fonzie and Richie we grew up along with Ron Howard as he managed to sneak a whole second career on top of his early success and has become one of the most successful and powerful directors in the last 25 years.
It is with much satisfaction as an admirer of his career as a director to say that at the age of 55 with as he approaches nearly 30 films as a director he manages to turn out one of his most stunning efforts with Frost/Nixonas well as a film that is highly different in tone, style and presentation than most all of his earlier work.
What Howard gives us is a complex character drama about a war of wills between two people who have absolutely no personal conflicts, but must battle each other publicly. In one corner we have disgraced former President Richard Nixon, who perpetrated the cover of up the nation’s most outrageous political scandal of the century. In the other corner, lightweight British talk show host David Frost, who after a taste of success takes a stab at landing an interview with Nixon in an effort to boost his reputation and career that has begun to wane.
What first seemed like a win-win situation for both slowly morphs into a career destroying catastrophe for Frost as his reputation as a lightweight begins to erode his financial backers confidence. Nixon, who had initially saw the interviews as an easy way to rebuild his tarnished image suddenly finda himself in a position where he is extremely vulnerable as he and his handlers begin to realize Frost’s intention to corner him on the Watergate scandal.
On it’s surface, the film is extremely simplistic, but within lies some of the most brilliant performances I’ve seen in a film in a long time, especially impressive is Michael Sheen’s portrayal of David Frost who is absolutely convincing as we see his his career fall apart during the process of staging these interviews as he is threatened to be destroyed financially by his initial miscalculation of how easy of a sell the interviews would be to advertisers.
Across the board, it’s an astonishingly good set of performances. Frank Langella establishes a deep connection with the persona of Richard Nixon. Sam Rockwell, who I’ve previously expressed my manly admiration for back in my review for Choke, is excellent. Rounding this cast are Kevin Bacon, Mathew Macfadyen, and Oliver Platt, none of which miss a beat.
Like the true interviews themselves from the late 70s, the final judgment of this film comes in the form of the final interview between Frost and Nixon. I would have to draw serious parallels between Frost/Nixon and Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men, which also builds to a personal confrontation between two men. Anecdotally, you can also draw parallels with Kevin Bacon, who literally seems to be wearing the same military uniform early in Frost/Nixon as he did in his role in A Few Good Men. There’s actually nothing pertinent about that except that I’m getting paid per word for this review. $0 for the first 100 words and 10% more for each word thereafter.
Basically, Ron Howard absolutely nails the climax of this film and it’s the last 15 minutes of this that pay it off, taking it from simply interesting and intense character drama to something just a little bit more.
Highly recommended. Frost/Nixon opens wide on Christmas Day. You could do worse than to check it out. But be warned, this is pretty much top to bottom a “guys in suits” movie. The drama happens with the people, and as compelling as the drama is, if this is not up your alley you probably won’t get too much here. But if you have any interest in the subject matter or enjoy a good intense mental pounding, ice-skate, don’t walk to your local cinema on Christmas Day.
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One Response to “Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard doesn’t let the American people down”
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December 22nd, 2008 at 8:27 am
I’m not sucking off the buster but I have to admit I had zero interest in this movie and now will probably have to watch it.