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The King's Speech is one of those period films featuring great actors that appear around the awards season, make a stir, and then fortunately pick up a larger theater distribution so people in mid-sized Midwestern towns can see what the hype is all about. It's also one of those films that no critic can dislike (hence its astronomical rating on rottentomatoes.com), but doesn't blow anyone away, either. It is worth taking it in, though, because it has a lot of good to offer.
Most noteworthy is the acting. Colin Firth plays a stammering prince (and then upon his brother's abdication of the throne, king) of England at the dawn of World War II. He is the favorite for Best Actor Oscar, which would go along with the Golden Globe he recently achieved. His stammer is convincing, and not appearing to be forced or overdone. His speech therapist, played by Geoffery Rush, is the king's opposite: easy going, loose, and confident in his manner, but an unrefined commoner and jokester. The two go back and forth in what develops into a friendship based on respect and emotional intimacy as they share their personal histories with one another. A key scene two-thirds through the movie very nicely shows a real blossoming in the friendship when the prince recollects how he was forced to become right-handed, and have his legs braced up in order to walk more straight. (As Anthony Lane wrote, "No wonder he stammered.")
Between the two men is a remarkable character: the prince's wife. She ends up being a kind of unsung hero of the movie, easily forgotten about after a superficial viewing. Played by another acting vet, Helena Bonham Carter, she is the impetus behind the king's recovery, gently nudging him forward to do overcome his problem. Her character is a testament to the adage "Behind every successful man is a woman." She is devoted, loyal, and a comforting and positive force in the prince's life, in contrast to the pleasure-seeking Shanghai woman who steals the prince's brother's attention and responsibility of 'kinging'.
The movie is at its best when it showcases the historical context in which the prince finds himself. In one great scene, he feels the burden of his royal past peering down on him from the high-hung portraits, judging him, demanding he live up to their expectations of excellence. In another, the respect for history gushes through in regard to an important throne of Saint Edward's that he demands full regal manner towards. And in another, he watches a news-clip of his soon-to-be-enemy, Adolf Hitler, ignite his German people in a way that the prince wishes he could do, but knows he can't yet achieve. When his daughter asks him what Hitler is saying, he replies, "I don't know, but he seems to be saying it rather well."
The production, the scenery, the period cars, the architectural backdrops all give the film a great looking face, but despite those and the acting, The King's Speech is a bit underwhelming. When the two leads have a bit of a falling out, it doesn't strike the viewer as all too dramatic, and the little bits of villainy and opposition behind the character of Archbishop Lang is unnecessarily forced upon the audience. It ends up being a familiar rehash of the power hungry clergyman who plays with the political movers and shakers for his own good.
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