The only blot on my horizon as I entered the screening of Frost/Nixon was the involvement of possibly the world's most bombastic and unsubtle director Richie 'Ron Howard' Cunningham. There must be a film of his that I liked, but right now I can't name it! But I was hopeful that the high quality cast and compelling story would stop the Director ruining a potentially great movie. And it does- though Richie Cunningham really tried his best.
For a long time during Frost/Nixon I was convinced that Ron Howard was trying to remake Rocky as a political movie. I realised during the late night phone-call scene that he was actually remaking the more melodramatic Rocky II. That 'training montage' which followed the "win, Rocky win" moment was horribly forced and contrived and threatened to derail what was otherwise a great dramatic movie. This is a real life David vs Goliath story in its own right and really didn't need anything extra shoehorned in to spice it up. At least he didn't throw in an orphaned child of a Vietnam soldier telling Frost to "get him, get him for me and my Daddy", I suppose.
But, aside from that, it is a cracking film. Frank Langella humanises Nixon (although I preferred him as a 2-D monster in many ways) with a performance that can be seen as sympathetic or snide dependent upon your view. Michael Sheen- one of my favourite current actors- does a great job as Frost, showing his vulnerability and, at times, obsequiousness and panic. He also provides Langella with a platform in their shared scenes by unselfishly toning down his portrayal of Frost's many visual and verbal tics and minimising any distractions. Langella is taking the plaudits, and rightly so, but Sheen's performance was a thing of understated beauty. In the supporting roles, Sam Rockwell didn't quite convince and wasn't quite authentic enough in his passion to 'get Nixon' and Oliver Platt crafted a character which grew in depth and importance- he did good, unspectacular work there and I was impressed. Rebecca Hall, who I saw recently in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, was again competent and beautiful- if a little dull. I also thought Kevin Bacon was content with a pretty banal reading of his part and didn't stretch himself as he can- but that this, again, worked in the film's favour as most of his scenes were alongside Langella.
And so, overall, this was better than I feared but not as great as it could have been. It is certainly my favourite of the four Best Picture Oscar nominees I've seen, but if Ron Howard gets Best Director then I'll be disappointed. 8/10.
