The ratings board was established to help protect young film viewers, not punish them!

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2011)

'THE KING'S SPEECH': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
One of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year and Oscar front-runner (trailing only 'THE SOCIAL NETWORK' in top honor predictions) is this highly enjoyable, educational and inspirational film. It's directed by Tom Hooper (who also directed the critically acclaimed and award winning historical mini-series 'JOHN ADAMS' as well as the film 'THE DAMNED UNITED') and written by David Seidler (who's other writing credits include several TV movies and animated films as well as the 1998 Francis For Coppola / Jeff Bridges film 'TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM'). It has an impressive cast including nice turns from Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce and Helena Bonham Carter. Most impressive though is leading man Colin Firth (who is expected to take home the best actor Oscar) who gives a great emotional and inspiring performance.
The film tells the story of how Albert the Duke of York (Firth), Bertie to his family and friends, overcame his speech troubles and became King George VI. It begins in 1925 at a time when radio is becoming ever more prominent and requiring "monarchs to become skilled actors" as Bertie's father King George V (Michael Gambon) tells him. After performing an embarrassing stammering speech at the Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium Bertie's wife (Carter) finds him a unique speech specialist by the name of Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through several years of frustrating training the two form a strong friendship and Bertie eventually learns to overcome his problem (to a certain extent), which becomes a necessity after his father dies and his older brother King Edward VIII (Pearce) neglects his responsibilities and hands over the thrown.
The movie is heartfelt and extremely emotional, a truly inspiring film about overcoming one's fears and insecurities. It's also a great story about love and friendship as well as being a well made and entertaining history lesson. Which is a shame considering the movie's R rating, which will keep a lot of younger viewers from seeing it. The film is about as tame and innocent as most PG or even G rated films but it does contain 17 uses of the F word as well as a few other bad words. These are all uttered in two or three short scenes involving their usage in speech therapy and done in a completely non offensive light heart-ed comedic way. The producers of the film tried hard to appeal the rating, in favor of the rightfully deserved PG-13 rating, so that more people can see the film. They argued that by slapping the film with an R rating they're depriving younger viewers of a great history lesson (not to mention an inspiring lesson about overcoming adversity). They successfully argued their case in the UK where they got the movie lowered from a 15 rating to a 12A but the American MPAA was not so wise and refused to grant the ratings change. Which is a real shame considering the ratings board was established to help protect young film viewers, not punish them. I've never had much faith in the MPAA though and have long ignored their biased and manipulated stances. It's too bad the film business relies on them so greatly though. The film is a great and important movie and should be seen by those of all ages.
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