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Tricky Dick's Last Stand

Decent pacing is the difference between shotgun nuptials at a drive-thru chapel and a full Catholic wedding chock full of Latin and guilt. The difference between happy hour cheers and post-bender apology writing. And the difference between "Frost/Nixon" and an overproduced summer popcorn flick.

The stage play-turned-big screen Oscar contender has all the right moves, zipping along from scene to scene with rare pep until building to a furious climax. And remember, this isn't a movie about alien invasions or pirate ghosts. It's a movie about two guys talking. No special effects, no Ben Stiller cameos. But those two guys, British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) and fallen President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) do a bang-up job of chatting through 12 titillating rounds.

You've likely heard of the Frost/Nixon interviews, a four-part TV production airing in 1977 after Nixon had resigned. Frost, existing somewhere between Austin Powers and Mike Wallace, saw the chance for huge bank from the interviews. Meanwhile, Nixon was looking for redemption from an American public that had made him whipping boy. But Frost had the journalistic credibility of Maury Povich, a problem when you're trying to convince American networks to pay for an interview. And Nixon was an emotionally reeling, malfunctioning machine. It all set up for a cerebral boxing match that would go the distance.

Maybe 'Frost/Nixon" is so good because all the players had plenty of practice. Langella and Sheen warmed up on the stage in the same roles. And scribe Peter Morgan wrote both the play and the screenplay. By the time Oscar-winning Director Ron Howard got to the material, he just had to find a way not to screw it all up.

Langella is stirring as Nixon and deserves his Academy Award   nomination. The awkward one-liners and anxious body language reek of Tricky Dick's righteous self. But what about Sheen? Overlooked in "The Queen," the feisty Brit playboy steadily evolves through the movie. Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell all play solid corner men, as well.

Perhaps the best compliment you can pay to any historical suspense is that even though you know how it ends, it still keeps you intrigued. "Frost/Nixon" is more than intriguing – it's exhilarating filmmaking.

"Frost/Nixon" checking in at 122 minutes, is rated R. It's now playing in Richmond and select cities. Mike gives the movie four stars out of four.

Mike Ward is a Richmond-based writer and editor. Check him out at www.underdogcopy.com .