"This movie is worth seeing, if anything, for the performances."

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2011)

The King's Speech is about a man who can't complete a sentence without stuttering or stammering. To make matters worse, he is to become the next king, which means he is required to publicly give long and eloquent speeches. The man, George, eventually ends up hiring an unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel, to cure his problem.
George is played by Colin Firth, who gives an amazing performance. You don't need three guesses to guess who I think should win the "Best Actor" Oscar. George's speech therapist is played by Captain Barbossa himself, Geoffrey Rush. If Firth deserves "Best Actor" then Rush deserves "Best Supporting Actor". These guys can act and they show it here. This movie is at its best when Firth and Rush are on screen together; their speech therapy sessions are the highlights of the movie. This movie is worth seeing, if anything, for the performances. I should mention Helena Bonham Carter, who is also very good here. It's surprising and refreshing to see her in a nice quiet role; something that isn't weird, zany and/or Tim Burton-related (not that there's anything wrong with that).
That being said, I do have a few qualms with the movie. I wish that the father-son relationship (with Michael Gambon) was a bit more fleshed out, and that the whole storyline with the brother (Guy Pearce) had been either refined much better or somehow completely removed. I wanted more emotional impact with the father and couldn't have cared less about the brother.
The King's Speech is also slightly hindered by its mostly basic and predictable plot. It's one of those things where you know where the movie is going but are still interested enough to see how it unfolds. Some parts of the movie, specifically when Rush is absent for a while, seem to stretch and it would have served the movie well to have been shortened by about 20 minutes. In spite of this, it's very satisfying and inspirational when the movie finally reaches its conclusion.
On a side note: It's interesting to see this movie Rated R strictly because of language, especially when a movie like True Grit is Rated PG-13 when it has people getting shot and murdered. Sometimes I can't understand the MPAA, or America for that matter.
Read all my reviews at jasonthecritic.com