Movie Review: "The King's Speech"

Long live the king! I wanted to wait until after the Oscars were over before I FINALLY put up my review of this movie. In case you hadn't heard, The King's Speech won four Academy Awards last Sunday: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. This is probably the first time since Return of the King won back in 2004, that I have been SO excited for a Best Picture winner.

First the story. It's WONDERFUL. It's a period drama. It's about the British royalty. It's an underdog story. It brings attention to those who face stuttering in their lives. There is so much emotional energy in this movie. It will bring tears and laughter. This is one of the best movies that I have ever seen, and definitely the best movie of 2010. It totally deserves the Oscar for Best Picture.

Colin Firth is absolutely perfect in this movie. First off, Colin Firth is practically perfect in every movie he's in. Ok, there may have been a few snags (not really a fan of Girl with a Pearl Earring, but that might have to do more with Scarlett J. being in it) but how can you not love him in almost everything he's been in? True, he does play the aw shucks, he's so charming guy a lot (Love Actually, Bridget Jones, Nanny McPhee) but he does it so gosh darn well! And of course there's his role as Mr. Darcy in the A&E Pride and Prejudice. But enough about COLIN. He absolutely is wonderful in this role. The best scene with him was when he breaks down with his wife when realizing that he is going to become king. I bawled when I saw it, and even now thinking about it I want to cry again. I have never seen so many people rooting for someone to win Best Actor and totally deserve it.

Geoffrey Rush is fantastic in this movie as well. I absolutely loved his character. He plays off Colin Firth so fabulously. It is one of the best pairings I have ever seen in a movie. I would have been thrilled if he had won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and if Christian Bale hadn't been nominated for the Fighter he would have been a sure shot. As it stands, it was an absolute perfect role for him. Full of humor, wit, and emotion. I loved seeing him with his family and the scene where he tries out for the play (and gets rejected by Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice!) is just so sad.

It was so awesome to see Helena Bonham Carter in such a down to earth role. In 2010 she had also starred as two of the most out there characters on screen, The Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland and Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. (Random fact, at the Oscars Helena starred in 3 out of the 5 movies that were nominated for Best Art Direction). I love her in her crazy roles because she totally gets into them and you can tell she really enjoys it. But it was so wonderful to see her play this really subdued character and it's the Queen Mum too who was highly loved in England. She was fabulous as the supporter and true love of the king.

As for the minor characters, there were a few I wanted to mention. The biggest for me is Jennifer Ehle as Lionel Logue's wife. For all you P&P junkies, I know you got as excited as I did when she and the king run into each other and they are introduced by Geoffrey Rush saying "I think they two of you have met before." I have no idea if that was supposed to be an in joke for us P&P-ers but you can get I silently geeked in the theater. And being a geek I must point out that I loved the scene when Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill and the Queen are speaking...Bellatrix and Wormtail plotting?

I am one of those people are who are astonished by the rating of the movie. I have absolutely no idea why this movie is rated R...for language. I mean this puts the movie in the same category as movies like Saw or Eyes Wide Shut. Movies that have very gratuitous violence or sex. For goodness sakes I have seen movies that are PG-13 that have worse stuff. All this movie had was one (or was it two?) scene where there is cursing because it is realized that the only time the king doesn't stutter is when he curses. And it's actually hilarious when he does. I mean honestly, it is not offensive at all . It is crucial to the story. I am against a PG 13 "cut" of the movie by taking it out, bc actually even without this scene it's practically a G movie. If you are still one of the few people who haven't been swayed to see this movie and your only reason is language, I honestly feel that you should still see this movie. I am angry at the ratings board for lumping this movie with rated R movies and it saddens me that movies that glorify senseless killings for pleasure or degrade the human body are rated lower than this.

To sum it up, go see this movie if you haven't already done so. I guarantee that you will love this movie.