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Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 80 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
N/A out of 10
based on 16 reviews
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MPAA RATING: R for some language

Starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew Macfadyen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, and Sam Rockwell

For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans. Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity--ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth. (Universal Pictures)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Peter Morgan  
DIRECTED BY: Ron Howard  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: December 5, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA | UK | France 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
USA Today Claudia Puig
It's hard to imagine how a film built around one-on-one interviews could be entertaining, but Frost/Nixon could not be more enthralling.
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100
TV Guide Perry Seibert
The craftsmanship, acting, and history lesson all make it among the most satisfying films of Ron Howard's career.
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91
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
In a masterful performance, Langella highlights Nixon's oily charm and guile.
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91
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Surges with an energy and visual verve that improve the play and enhance the themes of dramatist Peter Morgan's script.
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90
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The result is involving, engrossing cinema -- more thrilling, in fact, than Howard's "The Da Vinci Code" -- filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed.
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90
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
What Ron Howard gets, to a degree that's astonishing in a two-hour film, is the density and complexity, as well as the generous entertainment quotient, of Peter Morgan's screenplay.
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88
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Ron Howard has turned Peter Morgan's stage success into a grabber of a movie laced with tension, stinging wit and potent human drama.
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88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Howard and Morgan have transformed this story into something more than an embellished re-telling of recent history. They have shaped a tragedy that is almost Shakespearean in force.
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80
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Frost/Nixon's main attraction is neither its topicality nor its historical value, but Langella's re-creation of his Tony-winning performance.
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80
Newsweek David Ansen
Frost/Nixon works even better on screen. Director Ron Howard and Morgan, adapting his own play, have both opened up the tale and, with the power of close-ups, made this duel of wits even more intimate and suspenseful.
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80
The New Yorker David Denby
Offers considerable insight into the Nixon mystery, without solving it; the movie is fully absorbing and even, when Nixon falls into a drunken, resentful rage, exciting, but I can't escape the feeling that it carries about it an aura of momentousness that isn't warranted by the events.
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70
Variety Todd McCarthy
Frank Langella's meticulous performance will generate the sort of attention that will attract serious filmgoers.
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70
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Less a political movie than a boxing film without the gloves.
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70
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Stories of lost crowns lend themselves to drama, but not necessarily audience-pleasing entertainments, which may explain why Frost/Nixon registers as such a soothing, agreeably amusing experience, more palliative than purgative.
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70
Slate Dana Stevens
Morgan's compact, satisfying drama presents presidential interviewing as a gladiatorial event.
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50
New York Magazine David Edelstein
Unsatisfying even if, like me, you're a lifelong aficionado of Nixon-bashing.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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