Dude here.

When I sat down to watch Frost/Nixon, I had no idea what I was in for.  Just looking at the title, I quite naturally assumed it was a film about the cryogenic freezing of Richard Nixon’s head.  I wasn’t sure how they’d squeeze two hours out of a pickled head, but I was looking forward to the journey.  Besides, Hollywood could find a way to wring two hours out of anything…even prehistoric temperature data (hello Al Gore!). 

It also crossed my mind that it could be a film about Nixon’s heretofore unknown Jekyll/Hyde split personality, surely the result of some nuclear leak happened upon during a top secret mission while serving in World War II.  It turns out it wasn’t Richard Nixon who was a hateful, vindictive bastard looking to smite anyone that looked at him sideways.  That person was actually Mr. Frost; a hulking blue madman with glowing, orange eyes that emerged whenever the temperature dropped below 40 degrees. 

At the very least, I supposed it was a rip-off of 1997’s Face/Off, where an FBI agent has his face transplanted with an ubervillain in order to infiltrate his gang and save L.A. from a mega-bomb set to blow the entire city to smithereens.  Only this time, some dirty liberal hippie captures President Nixon and transplants their faces, thereby assuming the presidency and committing all the Watergate crimes in Nixon’s image in an effort to bring down the Republican Party from the inside.  It would have worked too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids…

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Frost/Nixon is a movie about…talking.  I told you Hollywood could get two hours out of anything.

Frost/Nixon is a dramatization of the series of interviews and the events leading to the series of interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon in 1977.  Frost is a television talk show host who has a playboy reputation and got an early and fleeting taste of success in America.  Nixon is a former U.S. President with a nasty disposition and a penchant for wiretapping.  After noting Nixon’s lack of contrition and guilt for his transgressions while in office, Frost follows a whim to land a tell-all interview with the President.  To nearly everyone’s astonishment, Nixon seems interested.  He sees an opportunity to restore his reputation and even possibly resurrect his political career.  He’s also extremely motivated by the promised $600,000 appearance fee.  As the interviews unfold, so does a battle of will and wits between the inexperienced Frost and manipulative Nixon.

Director Ron Howard (Apollo 13) proves what a good, experienced filmmaker can do; take a subject as seemingly mundane as an interview and make a compelling, gripping and tense film.  Of course, his job was made easier here by the incredibly good performances of both Frank Langella as Nixon (in an Oscar-nominated role) and Michael Sheen as David Frost.  Langella was terrific as Nixon the tyrant, boiling up slowly until exploding into a livid rage, but even better as a defeated Nixon, wearing loneliness and weariness and sadness on his face like a basset hound.  He so embodied Nixon that he literally had me squirming with discomfort in my chair, and when he finally growls the line “I’m saying that when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal,” it’s a jaw-dropping moment even though you knew it was coming.  Sheen was less heralded in his role as David Frost, but I thought he was tremendous as well, playing the interviewer as aloof but dedicated.  His role is obviously not as deep with potential and personality as Langella’s, but he makes Frost into a worthy foil. 

The supporting cast includes a solid turn by Kevin Bacon as Nixon confidant and ardent supporter Jack Brennan.  When things go wrong for the former President, Bacon makes sure that you can see it stings Jack just as much as Nixon.  Throw in Oliver Platt, the always reliable Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile) and an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Peter Morgan (The Queen), and it’s little wonder why Frost/Nixon was a 2009 Best Picture nominee.

In the interest of full disclosure I must confess that I know little in the way of Watergate trivia, so I cannot say with any certainty what historical liberties have been taken here.  But the film is so well done, it doesn’t matter.  Whether you’re such a Nixon historian that you know the name of his 3^rd-grade pet bird or you think Watergate is that giant flop where Kevin Costner has gills, Frost/Nixon provides enough drama and intrigue that you’ll enjoy it.

It’s one of my favorites, and it doesn’t even feature any topless women or car chases.  And I find that very unsettling.              

Email me your enemies list, conspiracy theories, praise or ridicule at dudeviews@yahoo.com.  

Until next time, the Dude is not in. 

•  Movie:  Frost/Nixon
• Genre:  Drama           
• Rating:  R
• Running Time: 122 minutes
• Dude’s Rating:  Standing Ovation

(Dude Brockhaus is a dirty liberal hippie who lives in New Haven, IN, where he’s blissfully unaware that anything ever happened before 1980.)

• Dude’s Rating Scale

• Standing Ovation
• Hearty Round of Applause
• Golf Clap
• “Meh” and a Shoulder Shrug
• Booed
• Lustily Booed and Pelted with Garbage