Okay- I have to preface this review by saying we'd had a long airplane trip, etc etc, for Christmas and we decided to go see this because of the great reviews. That said, we both almost took a nap somewhere in the middle. I managed to stay awake, but Alex got about 2 minutes of good solid sleep in there. That may have been a sacriledge to some, but jeez louise, it was sloooow and overwrought in places. Had Colin Firth not been such a great actor, this could have been a comedy. Cruel? Well, 2 hours of stuttering doth generate the occasion titter, no? But because Firth is so compelling and such a sympathetic character, he gets away with it. Some idiot behind us suddenly realized that the children grew up to be Queen Elizabeth and her late sister, Margaret. It took him about 90 minutes. Then he had to say it out loud for our entertainment. That did generate laughter. The acting is truly wonderful. The script is fairly amusing in spots. I think it is getting rave reviews because it's so hard to believe you could drag a movie out for so long, on such a topic, and still have it watchable. Helena Bonham Carter really can be pretty- I don't know why she fights it so hard. Two second summary- because his idiot brother is sucked in by the dominatrix and black widow that is Wallace Simpson, the throne passes to George VI played by Colin Firth. George stammers but because of that darned invention, the radio, he has to conquer this problem. Enter pithy, witty, self-proclaimed speech therapist and VOILA!
