Frost/Nixon (2008) - Howard's political drama is gripping, superiorly acted

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

An eclectic, well-composed poster for Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon that highlights its two leads' faces

3 years after the Watergate scandal let to his resignation in 1974, ex-President Richard Nixon decides to break his silence and elects British talk show host David Frost to conduct the tell-all interview, hoping for an easy, face-saving win. But Frost has his own plan.

Frost/Nixon is written by Peter Morgan (Rush (2013)), based on his own same-titled 2006 play, and directed by great Oklahoman filmmaker Ron Howard (Gung Ho (1986)). It is a suspenseful political period drama with great acting, particularly from the two title leads, who were both in the play in West End and Broadway, and especially from an award-worthy Frank Langella (Breaking the Fifth (2004)) as Nixon; and terrific staging. The film works as a kind of verbal boxing match and is a really fine watch.

Related posts:

Ron Howard: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Howard's first Brown adaptation is a popcorn thriller hoot  
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - John Nash given the Epic Treatment  
EDtv (1999) - Phenomenal cast shine in Howard's witty mega-flop
Backdraft (1991) - Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie 
American Graffiti (1973) or, Cruisin' Modesto '62 (actor)  

Watch a clip from the early part of the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 27.4 mil. $
= Huge flop (1.09 times the cost)
[Frost/Nixon premiered 15 October (London Film Festival) and runs 122 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, from August 2007 - ?. The film opened #22 to a 180k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 1,105 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 18.6 mil. $ (67.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.7 mil. $ (9.9 %) and Australia with 1.3 mil. $ (4.7 %). Frost/Nixon takes dramatic license to add, leave out and change some points in the actual history of the interview. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars: It lost Best Picture to Slumdog Millionaire, Actor (Langella) to Sean Penn in Milk, Director to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Adapted Screenplay and Editing also to Slumdog Millionaire. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes, 6 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Howard returned with Angels & Demons (2008). Langella returned with a voice performance in The Tale of Despereaux (2008) and with a physical part in The Box (2009). Michael Sheen (Nocturnal Animals (2016)) returned in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009). Frost/Nixon is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Frost/Nixon?