Nov
23
“Frost/Nixon” Review
Filed Under Movies, Political Films
Last Friday, I received an invitation to an advanced screening of “Frost/Nixon” at the ArcLight Hollywood. I boogied over there after work, reminding myself that the commute from Santa Monica to that neck of the woods is an absolute pisser. But I made it with time to spare and found a pretty good seat in the auditorium. ArcLight even provided free popcorn and drinks!
“Frost/Nixon” is a film about the disgraced president’s post-resignation interviews with a lightweight British TV personality. Imagine if George W. Bush sat down with Ryan Seacrest. Frank Langella plays — or rather, disappears into — the role of Nixon, and Michael Sheen imbues Frost with a camera-ready charisma as well as an undercurrent of sadness and vulnerability when he realizes he’s in way over his head. This is a real David and Goliath story. The final interview, concerning the Watergate scandal, is as engaging as any action sequence I’ve seen this year.
Directed by Ron Howard, the film is by far his best effort to date. Finally he’s not saddled by a passable script by the hackneyed Akiva Goldsman — a man who deserves the Best Screenplay Oscar about as much as I deserve the Nobel Prize for Literature for my review of “Masters of the Universe.” Instead, the script was written by Peter Morgan, based on his play. Howard and Morgan did an hour-long Q&A after the film. Fun fact: Ron Howard voted for Nixon in ‘72!
I’m absolutely certain that the right-wing pundits will mercilessly attack this film and brand it leftist prattle. Of course, they won’t actually see the movie, since these shaved apes will doubtless be too busy hunching over their computers, watching the Guitar Hero TV spot with Heidi Klum for the umpteeth time. It always amazes me that people won’t give a film a look before labeling it one thing or the other; that said, I sometimes even amaze myself. Unfortunately, I think some folks will be missing out on same towering performances because they let their insipid personal politics get in the way of their better judgment. But that’s sort of a day in the life for your average Republican — zing!
Kevin Bacon’s character, Jack Brennan, embodies that sort of mentality. A Nixon loyalist to the bitter end, Brennan halts one of the taping sessions during a rare moment when Frost has Nixon over a barrel. Though I clearly part ways with Brennan’s politics, I was still fascinated by his character. Brennan is at once protecting Nixon from himself, and what’s more, Brennan doesn’t want to be confronted with the reality that his friend and mentor is a flawed human being who made some really bad political decisions. Liberals don’t have a problem with throwing each other under the bus. And by that token, Republicans don’t have problem with throwing liberals under the bus, either. But they’ll never turn on one another.
All that being said, “Frost/Nixon” isn’t a one-sided liberal treatise. Langella gives Nixon a charm, a sense of humor, and a pathos that almost makes young people like me comprehend why voters would turn out for the curmudgeon twice. Frost isn’t entirely a hero, either, but rather a wide-eyed outsider who doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation until he’s bungling the first interview.
In the wake of Obama’s election, “Frost/Nixon” seems like a film that kicks Republicans while they’re down, but it doesn’t exactly. It’s a political film to be sure. Yet I think both sides can for once come together and enjoy a well-made picture, one that doesn’t have Heidi Klum in the millionth uninspired riff on that dumb little scene from “Risky Business.”
-Brad Lohan
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