The King's Speech

Over the weekend Josh and I rented The King’s Speech to watch.  It came out in 2010 but I am woefully behind on my movie watching.  When I was dating I saw every single movie that came to theater, but now I tell Josh “hey, let’s see that movie when it comes to DVD” and we forget.  Anyway, about this movie, there were no explosions, no passionate love scenes, no dastardly plots but it was still really good.  We got about five minutes in and Josh said he didn’t think he was going to like it but even he ended up enjoying it.

It’s based on the true story of King George VI of England and his stuttering problem.  It doesn’t seem like the most scintillating plot but the actors put SO much emotion into it.  It had Colin Firth (from the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and Mama Mia) as the king and Helena Bonham Carter (from Harry Potter and Sweeny Todd) as his wife and a man I know from some other movie but I can’t place as the King’s speech therapist.  There was a really great dynamic between the main characters.  There was such depth of affection between Elizabeth and Georg.  It was really neat to see Carter in a role that was quite as…twisted as Bellatrix Lestrange or Mrs. Lovett.  I enjoyed seeing a different side of her acting ability.  Even in this more tender role she still conveys a backbone of steel in the way she deals with her husband.  If I were guessing I bet she really is a very strong lady in life.  The best part of it was, of course, the relationship between Logue, the speech therapist, and George.  Josh and I just kept looking at each other and saying (forgive the language) how ballsy he was.  I mean any man that insists on calling the king by a family nickname must have quite the pair of kahanas. 

I wanted to tell you all about this movie in case you missed it when it came out.  It’s easy to overlook because it is so different in pace and topic than most other movies.  If you haven’t seen it, go rent it.  Even though it isn’t fast paced you will still be tense listening to George trying to give a public address.  Well worth the $1.64 at Redbox.