Apparently, "The King's Speech" has nothing to do with Elvis. Or one of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement. Or a basketball player from Sacramento. Or a hockey player from L.A. Or Fu's Chinese Restaurant.
Nope. Instead, it's about King George VI, who reigned over England during World War II. Apparently, the guy was a stutterer, and being a public figure who had to speak to his people, that was a problem. So he hires a speech therapist who tries to help him.
It's a good film, although I felt they made some situations feel a little too convenient. The movie didn't start out with the main character as king. He was only the Duke of York in the beginning, and they kind of made him less ambitious than you would expect a normal human being to be. Even when he was finally crowned, he seemed less than enthusiastic to be at such a high position. Of course, they show that he was burdened by his duties and that he didn't actually have total power or anything. But I just kind of expected him to be a little happier. Just a bit.
Geoffrey Rush was terrific as the speech therapist. You may have seen him in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. I don't know if you've seen him in "Quills" though. If you haven't, put it on your queue and check it out. I watched that film a while ago with my wife. I popped the DVD in before going to sleep one night, hoping to just watch a few minutes before dozing off. We ended up staying up to watch the whole thing and sleeping around two in the morning. That was the latest we've gone to sleep in a long time.
Oh yeah, and Guy Pearce plays King Edward VIII, the older brother of George, who is played by Colin Firth. Helena Bonham Carter plays his wife. Michael Gambon aka Dumbledore plays King George V.
And the film is directed by Tom Hooper, who I didn't know much about. It turns out I've seen some of his work as director of the mini-series "John Adams". If you haven't seen that, check it out also. It stars Paul Giamatti. David Morse is in it also, as well as a small role by Mamie Gummer, who is the daughter of Meryl Streep.
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