rupie

I join with those viewers who are surprised at the relatively low rating of this flick. I found it quite entertaining and humorous. The gradual yet inexorable disillusionment of Eddie with his new bride is portrayed with great humor, and the script had some very intelligently witty lines. It's true that it helps if you're a Ben Stiller fan, which I am, and it's also true that this flick is not going to rate up there with Midnight Run or The Sunshine Boys as far as great comedies go. Still, if it's a rainy afternoon and you need something to fill the time this flick makes for a very entertaining hour and a half.

This is just a marvelous film with a gripping sense of history, about a little-known story. Albert, Duke.of York ('Bertie' to his family) had a severe speech impediment, which wasn't really an issue until he had to assume the throne on the abdication of his selfish playboy brother Edward, Duke of Windsor. A monarch really has to be able to lead his people through language. An unlicensed speech therapist from Australia, Lionel Logue, worked with Bertie (King George VI) throughout his life. Everything about this movie, the acting, the script, the dramatic flow, is superb, and I am happy to see Edward portrayed as the jerk he was (although the movie avoids the subject of his - and his wife's - pro-Nazi sympathies). This is amust-see movie.

This is a wonderful film noir, for all the reasons mentioned by many other viewers: a great script, good direction, fine acting, and forward impetus. Richard Widmar shines, as always. But for me the highlight of the film is Thelma Ritter's performance, which is the best of hers that I have ever seen. Usually relegated to minor, comic roles, at which she shone (see for instance her roles in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies), here she has a major part as a tired, world-weary old woman petty thief living alone on the fringes of society. To me, her performance alone is worth watching the film for.