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Friday, 10 September 2010 11:44

Written by Barbara Vancheri

TORONTO – Overheard at the festival:
"Was it good?"
"No, but it was fun."

That was the consensus of the Toronto residents lucky enough to see "Score: A Hockey Musical" and sitting near me at a 9 a.m. screening of "The King's Speech." That may be all you need for an opening night selection.

As for "The King's Speech," I hope Colin Firth still has Tom Ford on speed dial because he might need another sleek tuxedo for awards shows.

He's tremendous, as is Geoffrey Rush, in the story of the future King George VI of England. He suffers from a stammer which turns any public speaking into torment and Firth – just as he did in last year's "A Single Man" – allows that to play across his face. You watch as words and certain consonants seem to nearly strangle him and he never turns the stutter into a cheap trick. Rush is the unconventional Aussie who becomes speech therapist, analyst and ultimately friend to the future king.

The cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter as Firth's wife, Elizabeth, along with Guy Pearce as the callow, love-drunk Prince Edward VII whose abdication paves the way for his younger brother's elevation and Michael Gambon as their father, King George V. Timothy Spall is Winston Churchill.

More on this later. Need to go stand in line for the new Woody Allen movie.

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