Critic Review of Frost/Nixon (Jorge)

Well known critic Roger Ebert, introduces his review of Frost/Nixon with an amusing comparison of the turmoil, and drama caused by Nixon to the, “the occupant of the office from 2001 to 2009,” stating about Nixon, “how much more intelligent, thoughtful and well presidential he now seems.” Lauding Frost/Nixon with four stars out of four and handing them a congratulatory 100 rating on Metacritic, Ebert critically praises the Broadway play turned film as an intense film which delves deep into the mind of a man’s vulnerabilities, shortcomings and desires. From his review, it is also clear that Ebert enjoyed the storyline because he raves about the simplicity describing just enough cleverly enough to give you a good sense of the type of movie and style in which it is filmed.

The second film critic, Rene Rodriguez from the Miami Herald, clearly disliked the film. Handing Frost/Nixon two stars and a 50 on Metacritic, he unhappily writes that, while he understands, although he does not elaborate this to the reader, why the original Broadway play was so successful and highly lauded it was unnecessary to create a movie adaptation of the film. The tone of this review starkly contrasts, that of Roger Ebert who gives us lots of insight into his opinions about the storyline, actors and direction, whereas this reviewer somewhat brushes through his opinions stating that although he clearly did not like the movie because it fails to point out anything different or provide illumination into the mind of a disgraced president and his presidency. From this reviewers perspective showing the human side to this character of national disgrace seems absolutely atrocious and despicable.

Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune gave Frost/Nixon three stars or a 75 on Metacritic. It is interesting to note that from the very beginning Phillips starts off by pointing out that, the movie shows a very humanistic side to a man who was once thrown out of the White House for doing what he pleased, and that it is unlikely a director will ever give a man like Nixon that kind of sympathetic treatment. Phillips differs from the Ebert and Rodriguez because he really tries to review the movie based on the skill of the actor and directors in the who star in the movie. Although he does touch on the storyline, his analysis of plot is not nearly as insightful as Ebert. Overall, it seems that Phillips enjoyed the film and seems to find small faults most of which are grounded in his opinion of the cinematic style and theatrical acting.

It is always interesting to see, how different one reviewer, can be from the next. Manohla Dargis from the New York Times gave the movie Frost/Nixon a 70 on Metacritic, stating that the movie adaptation by Ron Howard was more fictional than reality. In fact, although he praises the films close-up shots, actors who convincingly imitated the sneaky linguistic maneuvering practiced by Nixon and the “amusing experience” which is gained by seeing a film in which a fallen president is redeemed by the confessions he admits. Nevertheless, Dargis shares his unhappiness with the sympathetic light in which Nixon was filmed. Additionally, although he believed the acting was satisfactory for a movie which simply involved two, “talking heads.” The reality of it was that a different director or more skilled actors could have brought out sharper portrayals of these real life characters.

Finally, Peter Travers from Rolling Stone Magazine gave Frost/Nixon three and a half stars or an 88 on Metacritic. The reviewer hardly touches on the disgust felt for such a disgraced president, which emphasizes the generational gap between this and older generations. Hiw review also much less structured and formal is punctuated by an occasional exclamation point and he focuses his criticism on the acting as well as the plot lending some very good balance to the review. Moreover, with his more relaxed style this reviewer is able to inject a few more witticism and opinions about the story and the historical context on which the foundation of the film is laid.