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The King's Speech

Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter
Directed by Tom Hooper

     Imagine someone like the King of England having a speech impediment.  Hard to imagine, no?  Well, "The King's Speech" is a non fiction drama about King George VI, who had a speech impediment.
    The movie opens up to Prince Albert, (Colin Firth) before becoming king, giving a speech at Wembley, London for the entire world to hear.  He can barely get through his first sentence without stuttering.  He must learn how to speak properly before he can become king.  Fortunately his wife, the Dutchess of York(Helena Bonham Carter), finds Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a speech therapist and former actor to help Bertie (as Prince Albert is called to in the film by his family and close friends) with his speech impediment.  At first, Bertie is rather reluctant to agree to receiving help, and Logue must convince him of just how important it is to receive this help.  Will he get Logue's help and stop stuttering before he becomes king?
    It's very difficult to find anything bad about this film.  I like that it's based on a true story that I had absolutely no idea about.  In terms of acting, there is excellent acting in this film.  Colin Firth plays King George VI/Prince Albert extraordinarily well.  This is a difficult role to play as it requires lots of stuttering in it.  His performance is definitely worthy of a Golden Globe award and luckily he has been nominated for best actor in a drama.  The same goes for Geoffrey Rush.  He plays a difficult role extremely well.  His performance is also worthy of a Golden Globe.  I can't think of any other actor who would be better than Rush at playing Logue.  His excellent performance has also landed him an award nomination for best supporting actor.
   Another positive of this movie is the storyline.  There's enough drama in the story to keep you interested in the film without you getting bored, but not enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.  I like that there is also good character development throughout the story, at least of Bertie.  Logue and Elizabeth (the Dutchess of York) lack development.  We become quite attached to Bertie as he becomes king and begins to get treatment for his speech impediment.
   Overall, this is an excellent film worth seeing.  If you're reading this, find tickets while it's still out in theaters.  It's one of my favorite, if not my favorite film of 2010.  With excellent acting and a good storyline, I recommend "The King's Speech" to just about everyone.  It will be interesting to see how many of the awards it wins in the upcoming Critic's Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and soon the Academy Awards.  I hope it wins many of those it is nominated for.
4.5 stars.  (yes, it was that good)

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