The Kings Speech

One of my many weaknesses as a critic is the fact that it is much easier for me to write a review for a film I hate than one I love. It's easier to tear something apart than to build something up. Case in point, "The King's Speech." I have literally been staring at this computer screen for hours trying to come up with the right words to convey how great this film is, and...nothing. "Little Fockers"? Give me 15 minutes, and I could give you 800 words on that turd.

"The King's Speech." begins with the then Duke of York Prince Albert (Colin Firth) giving a disastrous closing speech at the 1925 Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium. Albert suffers from a debilitating stammer and crippling fear of public speaking. With the help of his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, he tries numerous speech therapists who give bad advice that was cutting edge at the time, such as, "Smoke all the time, it opens the airways and helps you enunciate words better!" Elizabeth then reaches out to a man who seems to be a literal last ditch effort, an eccentric Australian named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). During the film, we are led through the turbulent beginnings of both Hitler's reign in Germany and King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) in England. After Edward abdicates the throne, Albert becomes King George VI, and finds the strength within himself to inspire his people and unite them in battle.

Director Tom Hooper ("The Damned United") has crafted the finest film of 2010, and directed three of the greatest starring performances of the year as well. While Colin Firth does a tremendous job as Albert, I would actually rather spend more time praising Helena Bonham Carter's performance as Elizabeth. After spending the past few years seemingly content acting as a ghoul in "Harry Potter" or taking whatever role her man Tim Burton gives her, she has a career redefining performance in this. Also, for all the talk of a runaway win for Christian Bale as Best Supporting Actor this year for "The Fighter," for my money, no actor performed a role more masterfully than Rush does as Logue in this. As a commoner playing an often dangerous game of trying to get a member of royalty to open up about family secrets and things perhaps best kept hidden, Rush also reminds certain members of the audience that he can play more than a pirate.

If there is a negative to the film, it is that the writer David Seidler did not take the time to fully flesh out the character of King Edward VIII. If I can get my nerd on for a second, he is one of the most fascinating characters in history. A man that threw away the throne for the love of a woman, an English King that documents later showed to be a Nazi sympathizer, Seidler seems to be perfectly happy to just show the man to be, well, a simp. Which he was, but there is more story to be told here. It's just a shame that no one wanted to tell it.

At times some scenes may come off as an extended episode of HBO's "The Treatment," but to be fair, sometimes our lives play out that way also. In my opinion this film is hands down the best movie to be released in 2010. Over the last couple of weeks there have been a ton of new releases at the theater. We look at the posters and commercials and say, "Oh, that looks like it might be decent," when what we are actually saying is really, "Oh, shiny..." During this holiday season, give yourself a present. Go watch something actually worth a damn.

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