Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Frost/Nixon

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 65 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Peter Morgan
Directed by: Ron Howard
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 5, 2008
DVD: April 21, 2009
Running Time: 122 minutes, Color
Origin: USA | UK | France
Summary
RATING: R for some language
Starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew Macfadyen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, and Sam Rockwell
For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans. Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity--ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth. (Universal Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Beautiful Mind Apollo 13 Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience Backdraft Cinderella Man EdTV Far and Away Parenthood Ransom The Missing
Also On The Web: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
It's hard to imagine how a film built around one-on-one interviews could be entertaining, but Frost/Nixon could not be more enthralling.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Perry Seibert
The craftsmanship, acting, and history lesson all make it among the most satisfying films of Ron Howard's career.
Read Full Review >Premiere Staff (Not credited)
A totally mesmerizing battle of the wills between the occasionally charming yet wily Nixon and the increasingly desperate Frost.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Frank Langella and Michael Sheen do not attempt to mimic their characters, but to embody them.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Morgan finds the right elements of action and character through which to make history leap off the page.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Langella has always been a cerebral actor, one who never gives away all he's thinking. What comes through in this portrayal is how smart Nixon was, whether he's cunningly probing Frost's weaknesses or pitching himself to TV viewers as an avuncular, misunderstood Cold Warrior.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
In a masterful performance, Langella highlights Nixon's oily charm and guile.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Surges with an energy and visual verve that improve the play and enhance the themes of dramatist Peter Morgan's script.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The result is involving, engrossing cinema -- more thrilling, in fact, than Howard's "The Da Vinci Code" -- filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
What Ron Howard gets, to a degree that's astonishing in a two-hour film, is the density and complexity, as well as the generous entertainment quotient, of Peter Morgan's screenplay.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Ron Howard has turned Peter Morgan's stage success into a grabber of a movie laced with tension, stinging wit and potent human drama.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Howard and Morgan have transformed this story into something more than an embellished re-telling of recent history. They have shaped a tragedy that is almost Shakespearean in force.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Sheen, who is also reprising his stage role and appeared as Tony Blair in the Morgan-written "The Queen," is highly effective as Frost - though the stakes for Frost are nowhere near as interesting as those for Nixon.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Ron Howard has made his best movie with Frost/Nixon, an electric political drama with a skin-prickling immediacy.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The result is a totally absorbing and entertaining film, one of the best historical dramas from Hollywood in many years.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Throughout, it's clouded -- for me at least -- by a nagging sense that it's straining too hard to build the media clash into more of an historic event than it was.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Philip Kennicott
Neither the title nor the subject matter prepares you for the pure fun of Frost/Nixon.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
A case is being made here that it wasn't really Frost who did Nixon in: It was Nixon's old nemesis, the TV camera.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Frost/Nixon's main attraction is neither its topicality nor its historical value, but Langella's re-creation of his Tony-winning performance.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Frost/Nixon works even better on screen. Director Ron Howard and Morgan, adapting his own play, have both opened up the tale and, with the power of close-ups, made this duel of wits even more intimate and suspenseful.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Offers considerable insight into the Nixon mystery, without solving it; the movie is fully absorbing and even, when Nixon falls into a drunken, resentful rage, exciting, but I can't escape the feeling that it carries about it an aura of momentousness that isn't warranted by the events.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Howard has made a picture for grown-ups, a well-constructed entertainment that neither talks down to its audience nor congratulates it just for showing up.
Read Full Review >Empire Ian Nathan
Stirring stuff that works thrillingly as drama, and should make Sheen a star, even if it compromises on historical insight.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Ultimately, Frost/Nixon may be stuck in time – but, oh, what a time it was.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Frost/Nixon is not the epic gladiatorial face-off, the ricocheting verbal shoot-out that writer Morgan and filmmaker Howard imagined.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Shakespeare would have delighted in the chapter, especially in the antagonist, but not at the expense of the longer and darker and still-unfinished book.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Never entirely escapes its theatrical origins, and, by framing the story so pugilistically, the filmmakers don't bring out the full richness in this material.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
For closeup conflict and emotional kick, the Frost/Nixon movie tops the play. But neither can match the tension and weird poignancy of the original interviews -- reality TV of the highest, queasiest order.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Ron Howard directed, with outstanding support from Kevin Bacon as Jack Brennan, Nixon's fierce chief of staff.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Morgan's compact, satisfying drama presents presidential interviewing as a gladiatorial event.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Stories of lost crowns lend themselves to drama, but not necessarily audience-pleasing entertainments, which may explain why Frost/Nixon registers as such a soothing, agreeably amusing experience, more palliative than purgative.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Frank Langella's meticulous performance will generate the sort of attention that will attract serious filmgoers.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Less a political movie than a boxing film without the gloves.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Despite a moving, canny incarnation of the man by Frank Langella, despite a slickly entertaining coffee-table production as only Ron Howard knows how, the movie feels cooked up.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Scott Mendelson
Fails to add anything of substance to the history that it portrays.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Despite the great care and research that went into the movie, Frost/Nixon pales in comparison to Oliver Stone's "Nixon" when it comes to humanizing the infamous leader.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Unsatisfying even if, like me, you're a lifelong aficionado of Nixon-bashing.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 65 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Tony B. gave it a7:
Frank Langella's performance was deserving of the Academy Award. The film probably disappointed the Nixon haters who were looking forward to a hatchet job.
Matt J. gave it a9:
One of the best movies of 2009. I have no interest in this subject but I still thought this movie was amazing... I would recommend it to almost anyone.
paul j gave it a1:
The movie should've been called frost with a cameo by nixon, absolutely horrible.
xLAWx gave it an8:
Outstanding casts and director and also a fast paced movie. One of the best films of the year.
jai m gave it a9:
Very interesting. Definitely recommended by me.
Jay H gave it a7:
The fact I find both Richard Nixon and David Frost boring, doesn't help my outlook on this film. The craftmanship by Ron Howard is exceptional however. Fine performances. Frank Langella is good, but I didn't find him outstanding.
T F gave it a0:
Ignores a lot of what really transpired. Ignores Frost's own version of the events, and instead goes for a sentimentality instead of giving us a good narrative. Unfortunately, this is what people think of as history these days, twisted mediocre movies that barely tell the tale and never help us realize what the importance of an event was.
