I saw FROST/NIXON last week and pronounce it Ron Howard's WAG THE DOG--a deftly made and relative low-budget/schedule film that entertains, enlightens and provides a chance for Howard to do something with gravitas, prestige and awards-season potential between making THE DA VINCI CODE and the forthcoming ANGELS AND DEMONS.
But, to be honest, Howard (who voted for Nixon in 72 and supported Obama this year) is conservative and his earlier films show it.
Exhibit A: Witness the scenes where Kathleen Quinlan's mom had a meltdown over the teen daughter's mild liberalism in APOLLO 13.
Exhibit B: Witness the dumb subplot (that marred an otherwise good film) where Paddy Considine's workers'-rights "radical" and residents of a NYC poor-people's "Hooverville" were maligned as malcontents in CINDERELLA MAN.
Having pointed out the above, it's safe to hypothesize that the character in FROST/NIXON that Howard had the most sympathy for is Kevin Bacon's Nixon acolyte/camp follower.
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