I saw Frost/Nixon yesterday...

Hey thanks. I really want to see this film. Is it slow? When I heard they were doing a film version that was my first concern that it would drag. I LOVED the Queen so I am really excited about seeing this film.Thanks for the review!

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Not slow, but not entirely cinematic. The film uses plenty of filmic techniques, including archival footage, but it's still about what it was about on stage: two men in two chairs talking. I admired it, as I did the play, but it's built around a couple of thin suspense premises -- will interviewing Nixon revive Frost's career, and how much regret did Nixon voice? The answer to both questions is known, and in one case, still aounts to a who cares? And the Frost part of the equation seems oddly more limited on film. But there are wonderful supporting performances by Bacon and espeically the always underrated Rockwell (anyone else think he was terrific in JOSUAH -- the Upper West Side verson of THE BAD SEED?)

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I thought Howard did a good job of opening it up, using other locations, adding the little feminine roles like Pat and Sawyer.

Because so much of it is TV oriented, the cinematic benefits of close up work were really beneficial. To me, that one scene in the last interview, w the close up on Langellas face, showing the thought process- that was the Oscar nom lock.
My only cavet is that Micheal Sheen is much better looking than Frost making him seem a bit more hero like. Still w make up and lighting there were one or two moments when he seemed a not exact but a good reference to Frost.
Basically, I really liked it.

Updated On: 12/14/08 at 07:03 PM

The opinion rendered by our theater-going companion after seeing the play remains my favorite review of that piece:

"Boy, they really captured the tedium of the original interviews."

That being said, I also experienced one of the greatest theatrical moments ever due to Mr. Langella - and the aforementioned tedium.

After being reduced to counting ceiling tiles, about ten minutes before the big 'ta da' moment of the piece, Frank began to 'reel us in', as it were. By the time we got to Nixon's 'moment', I was fully re-engaged. This was due ENTIRELY to Langella's gifts.

I'll be curious to see how it translates to film.

And also curious to see how they handle the fact that he looked almost nothing like Nixon. I assume film magic will play a part, but I still am curious.

I never go to the movies, but I will go see this. I'm old enough to have seen the broadcast interviews. They were fascinating and am hoping the movie will be also. I can't stress enough to the younger posters that those interviews were one damn big deal at the time.

I didn't like Howard's choice of trying to make it look like a documentary. The story would have stood on its own without the cut-away "interviews" with the supporting cast.

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Well, the scene w the piano playing seemed overlong/slow to me.

But not so much otherwise.