Jules, Dave, Emma and I went to the Rivoli in Camberwell with the hope of seeing Benjamin Button. When we arrived, we realised we had made a terrible mistake in not actually booking tickets beforehand. It looked like most of Melbourne (or at least Camberwell and the outlying suburbs) had had the same idea as us. Too say the line was long would be like saying that the Pope’s recent comment comparing homosexuality to saving the rain forests was a tad inappropriate. By the time we reached the ticket counter there were only 4 front row seats left for BB.

So, we made the snap decision of seeing Frost / Nixon instead. And I’m glad we did. I’m sure BB will be great but Frost / Nixon was a pretty decent substitute. This is Ron Howard at his very best. Yeah, the movie plays around with history a bit (but then so does the Morgan play that it’s based on), but for the most part it’s pretty accurate… well relative to Based on True Story films of this type.

If you don’t know beforehand – and to be honest, I didn’t – the film is about Nixon’s famous interview with David Frost in 1978. It was the first and last time Nixon would ever speak about Watergate. And it’s the only time that Nixon would actually admit any sort of wrong doing on his part. Frost, who was known for being a talk show host, rather than a hard biting investigative journalist, poured allot of his own money into organising the interview when backing from the networks fell through. Basically everyone thought that Frost would take a soft hand approach to Nixon and that as a Pom and a bit of a ladies man he was the last person to be interviewing a man who had tainted and besmirched the role of President (That’s at least one thing we can’t blame on W).

Anywho, without boring you to death, that’s what the film’s about. And it makes for some really tense, rivetting and at times laugh out loud viewing. There’s one point in the movie where the audience around me – including myself – actually applauded. The acting from Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen (not Martin Sheen as I orginally wrote, thank you Terry) as Frost is absolutely top shot. The secondary cast is also brilliant.

Like I say, it does play with history… even slightly editing some of the things that Nixon actually said in the interview. But if you put aside the Hollywood conveniences… this is still a very watchable, insightful film that makes you understand that while Nixon was a complete paranoid psychopath, he was also an intelligent and lonely man.

And, of course, you can now buy the actual interview between the two with an intro from Frost.

So, go and see the film if you get the chance.