On August 9th, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first president in the history of the United States to resign the office. A critical time for Americans, an embarrassing time for Nixon and an opportunity for David Frost.

The film begins with a little history lesson. This proves quite informational, especially for the younger viewers who weren’t alive at the time and only know what we’re told. Then we are introduced to David Frost (Michael Sheen), a young, hip talk show host who is always looking to grab the attention of more viewers. He is hosting an Australian based television program when he hears the news of Richard Nixon’s (Frank Langella) resignation. When he sees the suffering behind the facade Nixon is putting on for the cameras, an idea hits him that will change his career and his life forever.

Underfunded and relatively unknown, he starts a campaign that will attract the largest television audience ever for a political interview. He also manages to bring out the real Richard Nixon, something no one else has been able to do, and something no one else has done since.

This is truly a character driven story, which is why it makes perfect sense that it was adapted from a play by the same name. Ron Howard is no stranger to recreating historical events (e.g. Apollo 13). He knows how to take a topic seemingly uninteresting to today’s youth and make it enjoyable. If Ron Howard had directed every informational film I watched in school, I’d probably be a much more knowledgeable man today.

Above all else, this film is what it is because of the powerful performance given by Frank Langella. He’s been around for decades, gracing us with his presence in mostly small roles, but this time he got a chance to lead and he did just that. Now, I don’t know that much about Nixon, but I’ve seen footage and read biographies, and it seems to me that Langella could not have done a better job. His realism is undoubtable as he portrays the disappointment Nixon had for himself in the years preceding his resignation. He’s what some might call an alcoholic and what others might call, well, insane. The performance leaves you finding new depths to a nonfictional character, which in itself is award worthy.

Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt and Matthew MacFayden all give notable performances as well. They provide a lot of cheap one-liners to lessen the tension over the severity of the interviews, and they do it particularly well.

Sheen himself, though playing a title character, ends up being the most major of the minor roles. I know nearly nothing about David Frost, but judging from the lack of criticism on his end I can confidently say he portrayed him convincingly.

All-in-all, I think it was a very good film but not amongst the best of this award season. It may or may not have taken a spot in a few categories from a more deserving movie. Don’t just believe me though. Go out and see for yourself. Whether you agree on that or not, I think something we will surely can agree on is that “Frost/Nixon” is a worthy film.