Frost/Nixon vs Dick

I’m glad it was David Frost who interviewed President Nixon. While I appreciate intellectual conversation as much as the next guy (okay, assuming the next guy falls somewhere between Ira Glass and the guys from Jackass), it never hurts to have a little humor too. If President Bush is ever interviewed about his years in office, I’m hoping Conan O’Brien does the honors.

David Frost was an Australian TV personality who had earned some acclaim in the United States and Britain, but then returned home, where he was doing much more frivolous work.  It’s like he was Craig Ferguson in Britain, and Howie Mandel at home. Here’s to leaving home.

Ah, but as famous people with time on their hands often do, David Frost had an idea: he would interview recently-resigned President Richard Nixon on American television. And, even though he was known primarily for interviewing pop stars and actors, Frost had every intention of having a serious discourse with President Nixon. He put together a small team of producers and researchers (some with agendas beyond making good TV), and got to work. What I love about Frost/Nixon is that even in the depths of political fact-checking and cramming for the interview, David Frost lived like Austin Powers, with a hot girlfriend he picked up on a private jet, hitting movie premieres and dinners in ruffled tuxedos and his awesome 1970s yacht captain haircut.

Frost/Nixon was directed by Ron Howard, and it’s a capable job, notable mainly for the lack of directorly flourishes. No fancy cuts, no flashbacks or trendy camera work. Frost/Nixon is almost exactly what its title implies. Frost and Nixon, sitting in a living room, talking. Does that mean a lesser director could have handled it? That’s a tough one, since a lesser director is likely more interested in where the Lycans came from, than the behind-the-scenes process of getting Nixon to admit guilt in Watergate during an interview. Howard definitely proves himself adept at getting good performances from his cast; Frost/Nixon has a cast full of original and inspired actors. Besides Frank Langella as Nixon (subtle and sadly blustery, and thankfully not wearing jowly prosthetics or too much wiggery), Michael Sheen is perfectly cast as David Frost. After The Queen, Sheen is perhaps getting used to being overshadowed by his costars, but he’s as good here as he was there. Sheen’s Frost relishes his celebrity—the parties, the clothes, the cheeky friends—but longs to prove himself as a serious interviewer as well. His team (Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell and Matthew Macfadyen) alternates between frustration at Frost’s lack of commitment to research, and giddiness over their high-profile job. In smaller roles, Rebecca Hall (as Frost’s jetset companion) and Toby Jones (as Swifty Lazar) damn near steal the show. As much as I enjoyed Frost/Nixon, I secretly wanted to have lunch with Hall and Jones instead.

Richard Nixon was so distinctive vocally that if you can just get that down, the physical is less necessary, performancewise. If you suggest enough of the man, audiences always seem to fill in the blanks otherwise. And whether it’s played straight or for laughs, a Richard Nixon impersonation pretty much needs to arrive at the same destination. Which is my way of saying that if you fawn over Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, but don't have love for Dan Hadeya in Dick, you're kind of a hypocrite. Dick is such an underrated comedy. Instead of hinging completely on authenticity like Frost/Nixon (there’s a documentary about the latter, as well as the original interviews that you can watch anytime for comparison), Dick takes huge liberties with history at the goal of comedy. Fine by me. In this alternate history, we learn that Deep Throat was actually Nixon’s teen dog-walkers, two flaky, sensitive girls who were also responsible for the lost eighteen minutes of recordings from the secret Oval Office tapes. And instead of spoofing the girls, or playing some kind of ironic “isn’t it funny we’ve cast girls? We’re mocking something serious” card, what Dick accomplishes is actually a tribute to naiveté, loyalty, and the types of girly girls who love crafting and dogs and baking and always have a crush on someone famous. There’s not an ambitious Tracy Flick bone in their bodies, and Dick is better for it. The girls are played by Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst, and they’re both so sunshiny and funny, Dick could have actually stood to cast a little less broadly, letting everyone else be the straightmen. Instead, Dick is full to the brim with sketch comedy actors (Bruce McCullough and Will Farrell are Woodward and Bernstein). Everybody’s funny, of course, but I’m not positive they’re all on the same page in terms of tone. It might have been a good idea to consult those Frost/Nixon interviews as reference. Almost as good an idea as having the cast of Frost/Nixon get some beers and watch Dick.

Frost/Nixon: A-

Dick: B+