The Weekly Ringer

The University of Mary Washington Student Newspaper

From the Academy Awards to Cheap Seats: Best Picture 'The King's Speech' Just $1

2 min read

By TENILLE GOODMAN

The Academy Award winning Best Picture, “The King’s Speech,” is coming to Cheap Seats.

The film, a British period piece, is based on the true story of Albert Frederick Arthur George, the Duke of York, who, unless he is shouting obscenities, is plagued by a constant stammer.

Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a speech therapist with unusual methods, is hired to assist Albert in overcoming his speech issue.

Logue’s methods provide many amusing scenes that may not have you rolling in the aisles, but will definitely incite a few laughs.

Firth seems to be made for this role. He combines the typical British aloofness with a frustration at his disability that seemed genuinely painful and humiliating. He won a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actor and certainly deserved both.

His character clearly struggles with letting his royal demeanor come down around Rush, a “lowly” commoner, however, as the film progresses, a close friendship develops between Firth’s and Rush’s characters that is moving and convincingly portrayed.

The dynamic between Firth and Rush offers several humorous, as well as touching scenes.

Rush is the quintessential character-actor, best known for his role as Captain Barbossa in “Pirates of the Carribean.”

In this movie, Rush stretches his acting capabilities in a “real world” setting and manages to add plenty of wittiness and humor to the movie that makes up for its more slow-paced moments.

If you like war-time period pieces, British people, and overcoming disabilities in a heart-warming way, spend the dollar this weekend and see “The King’s Speech” playing at Cheap Seats.

“The King’s Speech” is playing in Combs 139 for $1 on Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m.