The King's Speech

Well, I can see why this won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was a simple, humble, small-scale movie that told one very specific and historically true story and did so rather well. And sometimes that's all it takes to win the most prestigious annual award in film. I don't think The King's Speech was one of my favorite movies from 2010, and I don't know if it was anyone's favorite movie of 2010 - aside form the guy with that blurb on the DVD cover, of course - but it was a film with universal appeal. The King of England has a stammer, and that would have been completely fine before the era of widespread radio broadcasting. But nowadays - in the glorious 1930s - all of the English common folk (and all of the people of the worldwide British Empire, for that matter) know their leaders' voices even more than they do their faces. How could a stammering king possibly be respected by his people? And with World War II looming, the people will need to hear a voice of confidence now more than ever before. What to do!? Fortunately, in comes Geoffrey Rush, a failed Australian stage actor who managed to help some World War I veterans get over their own shell-shocked stammers. Both characters are well-written and well-acted and the film is well shot with impressive cinematography that manages to frame the king in certain helpless-looking ways when he stammers. Very well-made and pleasing overall, like a rich and creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone likes that dessert. And like this movie, it's got universal appeal. But I doubt there are many people who would call vanilla ice cream - even the best vanilla ice cream there is - their favorite dessert. I didn't dislike The King's Speech at all, but it was still just, you know, a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Alright, screw this, I'm going to go eat some vanilla ice cream.