Movie Review: The King's Speech

Way back when, your author used to fancy himself a movie critic. And on occasion, some people he hasn't talked to in a while will immediately ask if he still reviews movies. Since he usually has to begrudgingly admit that he is still waiting tables instead, there will occasionally be movie reviews posted here at BMC—not necessarily new or even the most recent releases, but still technically reviews—just so he can say he indeed still bitches about what's getting too much/not enough attention. Reviews will offer a quick take that ends with a brief summarizing thought that, in the spirit of Metacritic or Sound Opinions, will be in green (denoting a positive opinion), yellow (mixed opinion) or red (negative opinion). And sorry, but no star-ratings or letter grades.

Today's review: "The King's Speech," originally released September 6, 2010 at the Telluride Film Festival.


THREE THINGS I LIKED:

1. ROYALLY GOOD CASTING* — Who's going to complain when a majority of the screen time is taken up by either Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush or Helena Bonham Carter? True to form, all three turn out their usual terrific performances.
2. BUILDS AROUND A STRONG CENTER — The film revolves around Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor—who went from Bertie to Duke of York to eventually King George VI—and the difficulty involved in overcoming his stammering problem during both the dawn of radio and the eve of wartime. Firth is magnificent as the lead, and Rush is equally great as Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. Their relationship is opposite ends of social class standing, but the moments they share are about as solid a foundation a film could ask for.
3. IT'S BUILT FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION — It's another surefire crowd-pleaser from The Weinstein Company, this one involving historical nostalgia—with royalty, no less. The fact-based overcoming of a disability makes for a formidable awards contender.

THREE THINGS I DIDN'T:

1. IT'S BUILT FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION — As part of wanting to be a contender, The King's Speech also needs to adhere to biopic conventions. So the entire narrative arc feels familiar (The behind-the-scenes aspect to royalty of The Queen? Relationship crossing aforementioned social classes as in Driving Miss Daisy?), because that's the path taken by winners.
2. THE CONCLUSION'S NEVER REALLY IN DOUBT — From the opening scene, title in mind, is there ever really a doubt about whether the guy is going to pull it all together for the big moment at the climax? I don't want to be a plot spoiler, but if you can't foresee what the outcome will be, you should be pictured next to the definition of naive.
3. * - WITH A COUPLE EXCEPTIONS — As good as the three leads are—and they are flat-out terrific—there's two performances that miss the mark. Timothy Spall's role as Winston Churchill borders on being comic, and as much as I do enjoy the work of Guy Pearce, I never found myself able to believe that he was somehow Firth's older brother (Pearce is nearly a decade younger in real life).

25 WORDS OR LESS:

The King's Speech is delivered in a comforting and familiar populist voice that should resound with most viewers.