Movie Monday: The King's Speech

Having actually finished the work I needed to do at about 9 this morning, I decided to use the afternoon to do something fun. Since Christopher was doing his own work, I had to find something to do on my own.

So I pulled out a movie from Netflix which I've been "babysitting" for about 2 months: "The King's Speech."

If you haven't ever heard of it... well... I have no idea what to say to you, since it was everywhere for a while last year.

It's the story of King George VI of England (Queen Elizabeth's dad), and how he overcame a stutter. Really. That's pretty much the whole plot of the two-hour movie.

But it really is a good movie - and very interesting to watch. It has Colin Firth in the lead, with his wife - who eventually becomes "the Queen Mum" - being played by Helena Bonham Carter (whom I usually can't stand), and Geoffrey Rush (whom I also frequently can't deal with) as the speech therapist.

Here's the thing, though, I found myself laughing more than I expected. And that's why I liked the movie. Sure, it was serious and frustrating and intense and historical, but it was also really funny in a few places. One of my favorite scenes is when the Queen Mum meets the therapist's wife. It's this lovely little parlor piece, all done with eyebrows and cheekbones. Amazing.

So... Do I think it's the best movie I saw from all of last year's crop? No. But, heck, with all of the hype, it had no chance to live up to that. Had I seen it early on, I might have thought so. Overall rating: B+. Because, quite frankly, I had to sit at my computer and google the heck out of the characters to figure out who everyone was, when they could have easily included just a hair more exposition along the way.