The King's Speech (2010)

THE KING'S SPEECH  (2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Tom Hooper
    Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter,
    Guy Pearce, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Ehle,
    Michael Gambon, Claire Bloom, Timothy Spall
The story of an unlikely friendship, between England's King George VI (Colin Firth) and Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist who helped the king deal with a debilitating stammer. It's 1936, and George (or "Bertie") has no desire to be king. But when his playboy brother abdicates, with war on the horizon, he gets the job. Which means he has to go on the radio. And speak. And that's where Lionel comes in. This is an actor's showcase more than anything. The Windsors have never been a real dynamic lot, distinguished mainly by their ordinariness and the fact that they happen to be royals. The movie turns on a series of witty exchanges between the relaxed but respectful commoner and the stodgy, uptight king. Thanks to Rush and Firth, you end up liking them both, and Helena Bonham Carter does a very nice bit as Bertie's wife, the queen and future queen mother, who unmistakably has both a royal sense of decorum and a common touch.