The King's Speech

The King’s Speech

                The King’s Speech is the 2010 biopic about the life of King George VI, played very well by Collin Firth.  This movie chronicles his rise to the throne, and the stammer that threatened to keep him from being successful.  Before he became the king his was the king’s second oldest son also known as the Duke of York who had struggled with a stammer since the age of five.   A stammer in the early 1900’s already carried a stigma with it, and when you add that to being a member of the royal family that stigma is doubled.  The Duke’s wife Elizabeth (Helena Bohnam Carter) had sought out the help of lots of different therapist with no results to show.  This brings them to the unorthodox methods of actor turned speech therapist Lionel Logue(Geoffrey Rush).  The movie shows the treatment of the king as well as the friendship that buds between the two men.  The movie culminates with the Duke becoming King, and addresses the British people as they enter World War 2. 

                The Movie was good with a very solid story and strong acting by the big three of the movie.  Collin Firth was excellent as the king and his stammer was very good and he did a great job of showing his frustration with the stammer that he has lived with for so long.  Collin Firth also grabbed the Best leading actor Oscar for this role based the difficulty of the role and his great overall performance.       Geoffrey Rush was very good as the speech teacher and I enjoyed watching the teaching sessions where it was just him and Collin Firth.  The back and forth between the two of them were some of the best parts of the movie.  Finally Helena Bohnam Carter as the queen was a big surprise.  She always seems the play kooky characters who dress and act incredibly bizarre, but in The King’s Speech that is not the case.  She plays the queen who acts and dresses in a very proper way.  She also does a great job showing her love and support for her husband as he struggles with the stammer and becoming the king. 

                The movie was an all around good movie, and I can see why it won the best picture Oscar this year.  I have seen several of this years contenders and I am not sure that the King’s Speech is the best it was a very good movie and it was probably a pretty tough choice between it and the Social Network.   

I give the King’s Speech 4 out of 5 paw prints.

My next review will be over the 2010 chick flick Love and Other Drugs.

And as always, “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here.