Hard-hitting 'Frost / Nixon' debate comes up short

“Frost/Nixon” isn’t just about politics.

It’s mostly a film about the conflict between TV host David Frost and President Richard Nixon during a 1977 interview. However, the line dividing the two themes could probably have benefited from being more distinct.

At the beginning of the film, the movie reminds its audience that Nixon (Frank Langella) has resigned after it became clear he would be impeached. Months later, Gerald Ford has pardoned him, and the demand for the trial Nixon would never face has become ever more prudent. This is where David Frost (Michael Sheen) steps in.

He’s a talk show host in Australia, but he suddenly decides he would love to interview Nixon. Shockingly, Frost doesn’t ask for the challenge to broaden his horizons or prove something to both the public and the media: He wants the ratings.

Frost sponsors the show out of his own pocket, facing criticism every step of the way, and Nixon isn’t much help either. Throughout the interviews, he molds the questions to his favor, even the tough ones. Nixon’s tactics fuel the conflict between the two characters that prove to be so successful in grabbing our attention.

Director Ron Howard clearly wants to avoid a political discussion. It’s a wise choice, for in doing so, Howard puts the laboring politics we all know in the background, allowing for the psychological debate to step forward. But Howard stages it like a boxing match, highlighting Nixon’s one-liners but rarely delving into the deeper aspects and motives behind either characters’ words.

A more introspective look at the mental and emotional success and failure of either character would have been more powerful. With Frost’s only motivation being fame and prestige, our relationship with him is somewhat hollow. At the same time, Nixon appears distant, allowing only for a surface-level look at his debating techniques and thought process.
It must be said, however, that the story is well-told, appropriately paced and skillfully acted. Langella’s two monologues will ensure him a Best Actor Oscar nod.

Howard has done the job of capturing the intensity of the Frost/Nixon interviews. That is truly an accomplishment, but he fails to go beyond to identify the issues that made the moment important in the minds of Frost, Nixon and the American people.