I don't really like this movie, it's boring.

That's typical of the rating systems of many people these days - - it even has a name: The 7-9 Scale ( or the Four Point Scale as per the quoted article below)...



As most KJer's know, I have developed my own response to this problem with my Patented Bradley Witherberry Rating Scale® (as discussed in this thread). Eagle also created a thread to discuss the WOKJ's grading in general: Question: Should we change the grade scale? And finally, here's a fairly thoughtful article on the process of grading in general, and some alternative approaches to it.

5/10

oh god it's on tv right now this movie is fucking terrible

This is a great movie. It should've won Best Picture.

B


It's pretty solid stuff and far less boring than one might assume. It also shows off more of Howard's directing skills than most assumed that he had in him. Instead of dry conversations, the interview scenes between David Frost ad Richard Nixon are really very well staged and edited.

The real strength of the film lies with the two leading performances. Obviously it is Frank Langella who has gotten the most praise for his portrayal of Tricky Dick, but while his turn is terrific, I would say that the judgment is a bit unfair as Michael Sheen is almost every bit as good as Langella in this one. Their phone talk is probably the standout scene of the movie. Langella's performance is clearly showier, but it is Sheen that actually makes that great performance possible for Langella since in most of his terrific scenes he is playing off Sheen's Frost. That becomes most obvious in the interview sequences.

The problem is...that whenever these two are not interacting the movie kind of feels lifeless. It has got a strong supporting cast, but doesn't really make good use of them. In particular Rebecca Hall is wasted here which is too bad.

It's a better film than The Reader, but I don't think it was deserving of the Best Picture nomination that it got. Its acting by the leads is terrific and the screenplay is top-notch as well (though it is not that hard given that it plays it mostly as faux-documentary and heavily relies on the actual interviews).