Release Date: December 5, 2008

(out of 4)

As if Watergate hasn’t been done to death in the movies we nevertheless get "Frost/Nixon." But behold, this is one of the most riveting movies of the season and it comes just when you think this looks like another academic exercise. Martin Sheen and Frank Langella create adversarial heat, the two enrapt in an armchair struggle as the British talk show host and the disgraced former president.

David Frost is a lightweight journalist, a congenial personality who is always making friends everywhere he goes. Interviewing Richard Nixon is totally out of his league, at least according to the American media press. Nixon, latent in his posh California coast home, is advised from not doing a formal interview with Mike Wallace. With Frost, he could totally push him around and control the interview. Nixon’s desire is to clean and polish his reputation, to sanctify himself before the American people.

This is a perfect case of the two actors, not stars, being cast in the leads. Langella (“Good Night and Good Luck”) has received justifiable advance rave reviews prior to this film’s opening, but Sheen (Tony Blair in “The Queen”) is just as good as this driven but naïve jester who attends a Hollywood movie premiere the night before the first of four-taped interviews. The producers and research staff on Frost’s team is furious with him for not getting properly prepped. The first day interview turns out as a softball anecdotal session and Frost realizes just how unmeasured he really is. Time to panic.

Frost’s personal money is invested in this project. Nixon’s team negotiated a stupendous $600,000 for interview rights. Additional production money for the interview became costly, including salaries to Frost’s staff. Further disheartening, advertisers don’t want to touch it. No major network has signed airing rights because they lack faith is this British TV outsider. The taping, if innocuous as it initially proves, might never air. Frost loses his talk show gig back overseas. He is looking to be completely ruined not unless he brushes up and goes after Nixon in a storm. If he is to succeed, he will have to suppress his peppy and gracious demeanor and fire up tough and probing questions. Perhaps get Nixon to admit guilt on Watergate and express remorse to the country that he deceived.

Behind the scenes of the film is Ron Howard directing (“A Beautiful Mind” was his Oscar winner a few years ago) who resists any unnecessary flourishes and sticks to the meat-and-bones strength of the story. The script by Peter Morgan – adapting his own stage play – is the most intelligent of the year, bringing the same kind of sophistication and brittle humor that he brought to “The Queen.” Howard and Morgan pay tribute to their characters’ enduring distinction, and in doing so earn the audiences respect.

Yes, worth repeating, the film has a comedic zing because Frost is such a likeable character in over his head. And actress Rebecca Hall (from “The Prestige”) is Frost’s knockout girlfriend who charms the pants off Nixon. Part of Nixon’s insecure humanity is his inability to attract such a babe and he is wanton to know Frost’s secret. But that stuff is off-camera. On-camera it’s a duel.

The movie leads to a tremendous rooting interest for Frost to commandeer the final interview hour where it is to concentrate on Watergate and the aftermath. The interview, of course, proved historic but the savoring of the movie is the cunning byplay of Frost and Nixon, two men vying for prestige and redemption. The film’s power is elevating the story to the level of David and Goliath.