Review of Frost/Nixon (2008) by Gerry R — 21 Feb 2011

In the name of dramatizing history, Frost/Nixon sacrifices it. - Ty Burr.

I actually liked this movie quite a bit while I watched it but that's Ron Howard for you: his talent lies in making slick entertainment. And Frank Langella's performance as Nixon is riveting. He does imitate Nixon's voice somewhat but the tragic gravitas he brings to the part is his main contribution.

But. In researching the reality afterward I found out this nasty truth: the 'confession' the movie's Frost elicits from Nixon is a lie. It never happened. That alone makes this movie a very nasty bit of fraud, given that it concerns one of the biggest historical events in American history.

But more than that, the corny boxing metaphor, with Frost as the underdog kid, is Hollywood at it's worst: predictable, formulaic and just plain dumb.

I was thinking this would make a great documentary, especially when much of it is made up of the Frost/Nixon interview (tho it turns out not the actual words they said!), plus fake interviews with actors portraying the real-life (and still living) people involved. But further reading shows the actual interviews were a huge letdown: a boring bust mostly made up of Nixon's self-serving blather.