The King's Speech

"The King's Speech" is a well-made, well-acted historical drama. Its plot is innocuous and inspirational. In other words, it's a prototypical Best Picture winner.

What makes "The King's Speech" work is the chemistry between Colin Firth, who plays Bertie (later King George VI) and Geoffrey Rush, who plays his Australian speech therapist. These are two fine actors at the top of their games. Watching Rush push Firth to overcome his stammer and become a skilled public speaker is genuinely fun.

Unfortunately, they are ill-served by the simplistic storyline. Bertie is like a dog who was abused as a puppy: emotionally vulnerable, but pure and good. His elder brother David, who ascends the throne before he does, is more interested in banging his ex-hooker girlfriend than in confronting Germany. (In real life, Bertie favored appeasement just as much as David did until shortly before the war. Yet the story makes it appear as though Bertie knew all along the threat Hitler posed. But the filmmakers can't be bothered with silly little details when they're trying to be uplifting, now can they?)

Nonetheless, "The King's Speech" is a fine film. I don't begrudge it the Best Picture win. The real travesty was Tom Hooper's victory for Best Director. Hooper created a well-made British historical drama. If he was the best director of 2010, then Lone Scherfig should have won for "An Education" in 2009 and Cary Fukunaga should win in 2011 for "Jane Eyre."

It's not just that Hooper won over a more deserving candidate. It's that all of the nominees were more deserving than him. The Coen brothers' style is now so familiar that we can easily take it for granted, but only they could have made the funny, grim, charming "True Grit." David Fincher saved "The Social Network" from being a boring talkfest with skillful editing, inspired casting, and a terrific score by Trent Reznor. David O. Russell spiced up the fun, conventional "The Fighter" with plenty of personal touches. Darren Aronofsky made the rather silly "Black Swan," but he showed off some bravura filmmaking flourishes that will be emulated for years to come.

All of these movies are more creative and inventive than "The King's Speech," and they all relied far more on their respective directors for their success. As Manhola Dargis once said, "Let's acknowledge that the Oscars are bullshit and we hate them." So why do we still care so much about them?