Frost/Nixon

It was in May 1977 that British television host David Frost secured an interview with disgraced former-US President Richard Nixon - and it was no small coup.

Frost, having stumped up his own cash and staked his own reputation, had put much on the line; Nixon was hoping the interview might soften the American public's feelings towards him - though, of course, he risked churning up further hatred too (a fact sweetened a little by his $600,000 fee).

Here, Peter Morgan's compelling play about the process gets its cinematic overhaul by Ron Howard. In the lead roles are the original cast-members from the London production: a magnificent Frank Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost, with Kevin Bacon as Nixon's advisor, Jack Brennan, forever bobbing nervously at the president's shoulder.

You'll recognise the mood here from The Queen (2006), that other Sheen-starring, Morgan-written exercise. The struggle for power that governed that movie returns here, as we find the host and the former president wrestling for dominance - a process akin to watching Laurel and Hardy trying to carry a piano down a flight of stairs: at one end the sycophantic Frost, all flashing grins and louche demeanour, and at the other the hunched, jowly Nixon, determined not to give an inch.

There are times you'd want Howard's direction to be a little braver, a little more flourished, but overall this is a tight, smart movie, beefed-up by two stellar performances. ·