The King's Speech

The critical consensus

The King’s Speech is a slight but moving story of a man at war with himself.

(*) Eddie Harrison, The List, 23/12/2010

Yes, this is middlebrow, crowd-pleasing awards bait; but so well-executed, it’s all you can do to resist. It’s the crack cast that make it, though.

(*) Philip Kemp, Total Film, 29/12/2010

Think the blazing joys of Chariots Of Fire where the race is to the end of a sentence. Can it be that the British are coming?

Ian Nathan, Empire Online, 03/01/2011

The King’s Speech is warm-hearted and funny when it could have been frightfully dull.

(*) Alastair Roy, The Skinny, 02/01/2011

By the end, when Bertie faces the challenge of a live broadcast to a nation going to war, it's hard not to root for this briskly paced, benign movie and an expressive leading man, who may find he has to give some speeches of his own when the 2011 awards season rolls around.

(*) Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 04/01/2011

Utterly captivating.

Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 05/01/2011

There is a lot of heart in Hooper’s drama, and a lot of laughter too. How very, quintessentially, British.

(*) Alison Rowat, The Herald, 06/01/2011

The King's Speech proves there's fizzing life in old-school British period dramas – it's acted and directed with such sweep, verve, darting lightness. George VI's talking cure is gripping.

(*) Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 06/01/2011

But this is far more than an actor appropriating a physical affliction in order to win awards. In examining Bertie’s closed-off, emotionally stunted life and upbringing, Firth reveals a humanity and vulnerability that’s deeply touching. More surprisingly though, it’s also frequently hilarious and the result is a film that actually makes you proud to be British.

Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 06/01/2011

The King’s Speech never quite cuts as deeply as it might, it’s at least as enjoyable an exercise in humanising royalty as The Queen or The Young Victoria, one whose emotional pay-off the makers of Supernanny or How to Look Good Naked would surely envy.

(*) Sukhdev Sandhu, The Telegraph, 06/01/2011

A right royal success.

Chris Tookey, Daily Mail, 07/01/2011

The King's Speech is fine middlebrow entertainment, well put together and beautifully played by its leads.

(*) Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 07/01/2011

It all adds up to a very special film, with a near-perfect mix of pathos, humour and well-observed period detail.

David Edward, Daily Record, 07/01/2011

As The King's Speech builds towards its climactic, spirit-raising moment of triumph, Firth commands the material with an air of quiet dignity that could serve as a lesson to some of the film's more excitable champions.

(*) Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 08/01/2011

It's all done so expertly that you can forgive the film's ultimate message: Britain won the war because a toff gave a halfway competent radio broadcast.

Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday, 09/01/2011

Overall the film is a major achievement, with Firth presenting us with a great profile in courage, a portrait of that recurrent figure, the stammerer as hero.

Philip French, The Observer, 09/01/2011