Movie reviews: "The King's Speech," "Country Strong"

I told you I was going to take advantage of these Fridays off! (Next up: "Black Swan.")

First, I saw "The King's Speech." It is SUCH a good movie!! I love when actors can become their characters so completely that you forget that they have ever played anybody else, let alone that they are themselves. Johnny Depp is my #1 example of this trait (which is why I love him the most.) But after seeing this movie, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter are right up there with him. Geoffrey Rush was nothing to sneeze at, either, although I heard a twinge or two of Captain Barbosa in his dialogue.

Firth plays England's King George VI, who took the throne on the eve of WWII after his older brother abdicated to marry some American hussy. Carter plays his wife, Queen Elizabeth (mother of today's Queen Elizabeth). The story ends with all that business, and begins months before, when we learn that Albert (Bertie, to his family, and later King George VI) has a terrible stammer that humiliates him publicly when that damned new technology -- radio -- becomes the medium by which the royals address their subjects. This is on top of the humiliation he's already felt at the expense of his family and the doctors who have been hired to try and help him.

Enter Rush, a wannabe actor and linguist named Logue who is the only person that is able to help Albert find his voice. Things aren't easy, but eventually they are able to work together and the King delivers a rousing speech to his people when they most desperately need to hear it.

I think one of the coolest things is when a movie audience is so pleased with what they've seen that they applaud. It's so odd, because it's not like anybody who actually made the movie can hear them. But they love it so much, they don't care. I love that. And it happened with this one. Go see it!

Later that same day, I saw "Country Strong." I'm not thrilled with paying full price for this one because it didn't live up to my expectations.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, a country superstar trying to make a comeback after her umpteenth time in rehab. Paltrow has the chops for this role, and she does a good job. Tim McGraw plays her husband/manager convincingly. Also a good job. Garrett Hedlund is singer/songwriter Beaux and Leighton Meester is upcoming country pop tart Chiles and both do a fine job in their roles. My dissatisfaction with the film has nothing to do with any of the cast or their acting.

I blame the writing. Are we supposed to care most about Kelly, or Beaux? Or Chiles, who sneaks in with an emotional storyline somewhere in the middle? Why did we start the film with Beaux, if the big climactic moment is Kelly's? Why do we care if Beaux and Kelly have a fling, when Kelly really wants to be back in love with her husband? Why do we care if Beaux is jealous of that, when later we're obviously supposed to want him and Chiles to end up together?

The plotting of this movie was a hot damn mess. Had they streamlined, made the movie what it was supposed to be -- Gwyneth's -- and made Beaux the whipping boy in a more emotional way, I think I would have left the theater feeling something other than disappointment. It's really too bad, because all the performances were stellar. They just didn't have a solid foundation to build on.