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“Long Shot,” Reviewed: A Timid Political Rom-Com with the Politics Removed

By Richard Brody

Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron gesture in sync in Long Shot.

The new romantic comedy “Long Shot” has a familiar premise—the relationship between Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), the Secretary of State, who is making a Presidential bid, and Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), a scruffy investigative journalist whom she hires as her speechwriter. Actually, though, it’s a zombie film. There isn’t an undead character in it, but the movie itself is brought back from the cinematic graveyard, dry with the dust of long-interred ideas, moods, and tones. It’s decked out in up-to-date attitudes, pop-culture references, and political pieties and deceptions. But it’s an attempted and failed resuscitation—or, rather, a lifeless simulation—of the old-fashioned romantic comedy, and its narrative nostalgia is inseparable from its forward-seeming, backward-looking political fantasies.

Charlotte works for the vapid President Chambers (Bob Odenkirk), who rose to fame playing a President on TV. When he decides not to run for reëlection so that he can pursue his notion of true success, a movie career, the field is open to Charlotte. A relentlessly hard worker with a deep knowledge of policy, she plans to run on an ambitious environmental initiative, but her likability numbers are lower than her aides—led by her chief of staff, Maggie Millikin (June Diane Raphael)—would like. Meanwhile, the paper that Fred writes for, the Brooklyn Advocate , has been bought by a right-wing mogul, Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis), and, before the intrepidly independent Fred can be fired or muzzled, he quits. Fred’s best friend, Lance (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), a tech executive, takes him to a fancy party, where he finds himself face to face with Charlotte—who, as it turns out, used to be his babysitter, when he was thirteen, and has been his lifelong crush. Needing a speechwriter with a more popular tone, she reads his clips and hires him.

The predictable romance grows, fuelled by Charlotte’s long-stifled desire to have some fun and Fred’s ability to provide it, by Charlotte’s suppressed engagement with pop culture and Fred’s nerdy pop enthusiasm, by Charlotte’s loneliness and Fred’s sympathetic companionship, and by her hope for love and his steadfast adoration. Though political compromises put a slight crimp in the relationship, the true threat is a blackmail plot involving Wembley’s anti-environmental policies and an embarrassing video of Fred. It’s embarrassing but not incriminating—he’s been spied on while masturbating. Charlotte ends up taking a boldly pro-masturbation line and self-love conquers all.

Which is to say that “Long Shot” is yet another film in the venerable, antiquated genre of the hard-working, intellectually commanding, extremely capable woman who is emotionally stifled and needs an effusively warm-hearted man-boy to loosen her up and unleash her true and better self while improving her public image. Fred is both a regular guy and a liberal non-bro, the sort you’re both supposed to want to have a beer with and not supposed to be embarrassed to have a beer with; Charlotte is the kind of woman whose political career depends on having such a guy by her side. In this way and others, the movie traffics in the very political stereotypes that it appears to be satirizing.

“Long Shot,” directed by Jonathan Levine, offers facile feel-good winks to liberal attitudes, such as Fred’s effort to infiltrate a group of neo-Nazis (without ever suggesting that they might be big fans of President Chambers). He’s deeply sympathetic to Charlotte’s environmental agenda, and he displays a willingness to put his own work on hold to support Charlotte’s career. At the same time, the movie cautiously averts and deflects any notion of a politically polarized country—as if in fear of cutting off half of its potential audience. One of the articles by Fred that Charlotte reads before hiring him is a denunciation of the two-party system, a Hollywood sop to Naderist/Steinist (or white-knight centrist) fantasies. The movie mocks the apparently right-wing politics of the media mogul, who says that gay marriage causes hurricanes, but in the end it is his corrupt self-interest, rather than any ideological conflict, that brings the action to a crisis. That’s because there’s no ideological conflict anywhere to be seen in “Long Shot.” Charlotte is the Secretary of State in an Administration of no demonstrable politics; despite Chambers’s rise to power through vapid celebrity, it’s never clear what party he belongs to. Charlotte’s allegiances are no clearer. Her pro-environmental policies suggest that she might be a Democrat, as does Fred’s willingness to work for her; so, perhaps, does her choice of Lil Yachty, a Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016, to perform at her rally (and, for that matter, so does Lil Yachty’s willingness to perform there), but nothing else in the film suggests any political stakes in her candidacy.

There’s a disingenuous sidebar about Fred’s friend Lance, who, late in the action, comes out to Fred as both a Republican and a devout Christian. The revelations shock Fred—and the movie goes so far as to blame Fred for his own supposed intolerance of such views, which have in effect kept Lance in the right-wing closet. To the tiny extent that it trades in party politics, “Long Shot” presents red or blue adherence as more or less equivalent to attachment to a sports team. It suggests that Lance’s Christian faith makes for a natural connection to the political right, without mentioning any of the other issues related to immediate human needs—the social safety net, the redistribution of wealth, the defense of civil rights, the redress of inequality—that he and Fred might differ on. This silence is a tacit embrace of Hollywood’s long-standing presumption of libertarian meritocracy, of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles through personal effort—not least because the narrative arc of struggle and triumph is an easy one with which to stoke emotions. (That’s why a truly progressive cinema takes a critical approach to dramatic conventions as well as political ones.)

“Long Shot” offers none of the substantive discussions that a journalist and a politician in a close working and personal relationship would have, because the movie displays a fear of politics—or, rather, a fear of controversy. This self-undercutting timidity affects the quality of the comedy. There’s a handful of clever comedic contrivances in the movie’s interstices, as when Maggie outfits Fred for a banquet in Stockholm, or when Charlotte, in Paris, has to defuse an international crisis while high. But the occasional flourishes of physical comedy are both awkward and frictionless, thuddingly violent yet inconsequential. Because of the insipid vagueness of the characters, Rogen and Theron work mightily to convey a convincing bond between Charlotte and Fred—a few of their encounters feature appealingly low-key and riffy banter. For the most part, though, the movie’s lack of political substance empties out the relationship at its center; having little to work with and little to hold them together, the actors appear to be meeting each other for the first time in every scene.

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“Non-Fiction,” Reviewed: A Vacuum-Sealed View of France’s Culturati

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The King's Speech

Where to watch.

Watch The King's Speech with a subscription on Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Colin Firth gives a masterful performance in The King's Speech , a predictable but stylishly produced and rousing period drama.

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Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Colin Firth

King George VI

Geoffrey Rush

Lionel Logue

Helena Bonham Carter

Queen Elizabeth

King Edward VIII

Timothy Spall

Winston Churchill

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, 'speechless' star addresses the issues.

NEW YORK -- " Speechless " is a movie about two political consultants for different parties, who fall in love. So I'm talking with Michael Keaton , the star of the movie, and I say, "I gather this screenplay was written before Mary Matalin and James Carville became a couple."

"I got news for you," Keaton says. "This screenplay was written before James Carville and Mary Magdalen became a couple."

The screenplay had been around, in fact, for a couple of years before Carville, working for Clinton, and Matalin, working for Bush, fell in love on the 1992 campaign trail. Now they've co-authored a bestseller about their polarized relationship, and here is the movie - which is not based on the book.

Was the screenplay altered because a reallife situation had developed? I asked.

"I don't think so. Although I'm kind of proud and embarrassed to admit I was three weeks into the movie before I knew that the screenplay was written before they met one another. I thought it was based on them, too, just like everybody else."

Did you see that documentary, " The War Room ," which followed Carville on the campaign trail?

"Yeah, I saw it. He was a very interesting character. But I knew I wasn't going to try to play him or any version of him. I found the documentary pretty depressing in the picture it painted of Spin Doctors, and creating images to get somebody into office. They never dealt with the issues."

Of course, Keaton's character never deals with the issues in "Speechless," either, and neither does the character he falls in love with, played by Geena Davis . He's a Democrat, she's a Republican, and they're both speech writers and consultants for a couple of Bozos running for office in New Mexico.

The movie makes it pretty clear both candidates are vacuum-headed crooks, and Keaton and Davis spend a lot of their time trying to get their man photographed with a cute baby bear at the local zoo, which has crawled into a drain pipe and upstaged every other story in town. They are, however, both insomniacs, and one night they get into a fight over the last bottle of Nydol in the local convenience store, and that leads to a conversation, and love at first sight, and blissful romance - until they discover they're working on opposite sides of the fence.

"I was doing Larry King," Keaton said, "and he told me Carville and Matalin are just crazy about one another and get on really well and they're totally, totally different. I think that would make it easier. You accept that the other person is different, and you're never going to try to change them or shift them. It's those little gray areas that drive you crazy, you know: You're almost there, but you're not there. That's what makes it hard." We were talking in a New York hotel room, during one of those December weekends when every studio in the world decides to premiere its new movies all at once. "Speechless" is one of the hopefuls for a big share of the box office dollar this holiday season, but never has the field been so crowded, with something like 20 other releases also going for the brass ring. Return to comedy

For Keaton, the movie is a return to light comedy after the relatively heavier experiences of " My Life ," a 1993 film in which his dying character videotaped a farewell to his infant son, and such other films as " Clean and Sober " (1988), where he's fighting drugs; " The Dream Team " (1989), where he's a mental patient; " Pacific Heights " (1990), where he was the tenant from hell; " The Paper " (1994), where he was a harassed newspaper editor; and of course the two " Batman " movies (1989 and 1992), where he played the Caped Crusader on mean streets darker than noir.

If "Speechless" is a comedy, however, it's not exactly an optimistic, Capraesque view of the American political landscape. The director, Ron Underwood , seems to specialize in strange people who live in or near New Mexico; his previous films were "Tremors" (1990), about giant burrowing worms attacking a small Nevada town, and " City Slickers " (1991), about three lonely guys on a New Mexico dude ranch. His new film evenhandedly shows both of the candidates as dishonest, shallow and unworthy of office. The movie really takes a bleak view of politics, I said to Keaton. I guess that reflects the view that America has about politicians right now. "That's what I'm thinking." How do you feel about that? "It's disturbing because, on the one hand, I'm glad everybody's kind of cynical and rising up and calling people on their stuff. But you've gotta maintain a certain respect, even a symbolic one, for the president. The other day that guy took a shot at the White House. It's like, shoot at it! Geez, where's that going to lead?"

Did you find out anything about politics while making this film that enlightened you?

"No; not really, because the film's really not about that. There wasn't any real research besides watching `The War Room.' It's a romantic comedy with a political backdrop; that's all." Sleepless in New York

All during the weekend, people with too many movies on their minds kept slipping and calling the movie "Sleepless" instead of "Speechless." And when I talked to Underwood, the director, he nodded grimly and said, "I sometimes go a whole week without a good night's sleep."

How do you function?

He shrugged. "I function fine."

"I liked the idea of the characters both being insomniacs," Keaton said. "I thought it was a nice way for two people to connect. They share this thing in common. And also, it lends itself to maybe a kind of sexual tension - knowing somebody's across the town in their hotel room and they're not sleeping and they might be thinking about you and you're in bed and it's in the middle of the night. I liked all that. And it also lends itself to acting kinda goofy if you haven't slept in a couple of days."

You make a nice couple, I said.

You smile good together. And you both seem to come loaded with an attitude.

"An attitude. Yes."

Is Geena taller than you?

"She's got a good 6 inches on me. No, she's a little taller than me, but you don't notice it."

In this film I didn't think she looked as tall as she usually does.

"Right. Because she's actually not."

Or you're taller than what we think you are.

"Well, there you go; there's your answer." `Batman'

Val Kilmer has been announced as the lead for the forthcoming "Batman 3," and Keaton raised some eyebrows last week when he said he had "retired the cape" for Batman.

"I gave a speech at the National Press Club and then they asked me questions. I answered the questions. They edited me a little out of context. What I said was, until our `Batman' came around, the general perception of `Batman' was from comics and the TV show. Then we came and did our version, and that seems to be the version right now: Batman as the Dark Knight. Now there will be another Batman movie, without me or (director) Tim Burton involved, and it'll be whatever it is, and I don't know what that will be. And so, in that respect, I like to think I retired the jersey on our Batman. And I really liked what I did in the first one. I liked the way I did it an awful lot."

I got a question, I said, from a reader who wanted to know who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman. I said Superman, obviously, since he was superhuman - unless Batman had kryptonite. Then I got a letter from a man at Marvel Comics who gave me the ranking of all their heroes. Thor would beat everybody because he was a god. They actually have at Marvel Comics, a rating system of who would beat whom.

"Who's the lowest?"

I can't remember.

"Probably Accountantman."

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Finding words for 'the king's speech' took decades.

David Seidler drew upon his childhood pain as a stutterer to write the screenplay
He waited decades to write the story at the request of the royal widow, Seidler says
The story wouldn't have been good enough for an Oscar nomination if he wrote it sooner, he says

The countdown to Hollywood's biggest night is on. Join "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson for live red carpet access at the Oscars on "Road to Gold" this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- "The King's Speech" story knocked around in David Seidler's head for half a century before he finished writing the screenplay for the film, which is now nominated for a dozen Academy Awards.

Any sooner and it might have been "a fairly reasonable script," but not likely good enough to earn an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, Seidler said. It demanded "a more mature writer."

"I don't think it would have been the same," he said, as he sipped hot tea in the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge.

During lunch, Seidler opened a large envelope holding an original photograph of King George VI sitting with President Franklin Roosevelt. The photo, a gift from collector Keya Morgan, was taken in June 1939, just three months before he delivered the dramatic radio address that is the climax of his movie.

"He's trying to look relaxed, but it's not relaxed at all," Seidler said, pointing to the king's crossed hands.

He noticed Roosevelt's legs were not covered with a blanket, as was the usual pose.

"You can see the braces," he said. "That's just about the only photograph I've ever seen of him without the blanket. That's very unusual."

Seidler spoke about the similarity between Roosevelt's paralyzed legs, a public secret, and King George VI's speech impediment, which was "swept under the royal carpet."

"Not much is written about it, because the royal stutterer is a source of embarrassment," Seidler said. "Stuttering was considered a speech defect and if you had a speech defect, you were, by definition, a defective person."

But the king was a royal inspiration to Seidler, who himself began stuttering as a child while sailing from his native England to the United States to escape the German bombing.

Seidler, now 73, was a college student when he first decided to write about how King George VI overcame his stutter to lead Britain through World War II with inspiring radio addresses.

Searching the pain of his own childhood gave Seidler the words he needed for "The King's Speech," he said. But it was not something he could do until later in life, he said.

"This required going back into the pain and the loneliness and the isolation and frustration of being a stutterer," Seidler said. "And being a stutterer is rather like having a very bad toothache. When you've got the toothache, all you're thinking about is 'Wow, my tooth really hurts.' All I can think about is that pain. As soon as you get to the dentist and the dentist fixes it, the last thing you want to remember is how that tooth ached. You just blank it out, the mind forgets it."

It took many years for Seidler to allow his mind to recall what it was like to be a stutterer, he said.

"But as a more mature writer, let me put it that way, when you start looking back on your life, it is easier to go back into the past and therefore, I was able to really put my head back into being a stutterer, which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise," he said.

The long wait was not self-imposed, but was a royal request from Elizabeth, the queen mother. The king's widow sent a letter granting her blessing to the effort if Seidler waited until after her death.

"The memory of these events is still too painful," she wrote in 1982.

"I knew what she meant," Seidler said. "It was her grief over the loss of her husband at a very early age; he was in his early 50s when he died, because he had the stress of being the reluctant king, a position he wasn't trained for, wasn't suited for. And she just didn't want to be reminded of what had happened."

As a good British subject, he waited.

"I didn't think I had that much longer to wait," he said. "She was a very old lady at the time. I thought a couple years, three or four at the most."

She lived for two more decades, dying in 2002 at the age of 101.

Her long life may give the 73-year-old Seidler the distinction of being the oldest writer to win an Oscar for an original screenplay.

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‘The King’s Speech’ wins top Oscars

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“The King’s Speech” was crowned best film at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Nominated for 12 Oscars -- the most of any film -- it won four statuettes, including for Colin Firth for lead actor, Tom Hooper for director, and David Seidler for original screenplay.

“I have a feeling my career just peaked,” Firth deadpanned as he accepted the honor. It capped off a phenomenal year for Firth, who won practically every award out there for playing George VI’s attempts to overcome his stuttering before he assumes the throne of England.

Meanwhile, Natalie Portman danced away with Oscar for playing a prima ballerina spinning into madness in “Black Swan.” It has been a magical awards season for Portman, who had swept nearly every honor she was nominated for, and she has glowed every step of the way: Pregnant, Portman met her now fiance on set.

“This is insane. ... I’m so grateful to do the job that I do,” Portman said.

“The King’s Speech” and “Inception” were the big winners at the Kodak Theatre, with four Oscars apiece. “The Social Network,” which was the biggest rival to “The King’s Speech,” went home with three Oscars. “Toy Story 3,” “The Fighter” and “Alice in Wonderland” all won two apiece.

Overlooked was “True Grit.” Joel and Ethan Coen’s revisionist remake of the classic Western had earned 10 nominations, including best film, director, adapted screenplay, actor and supporting actress.

While audiences flocked to the movie and critics lauded it, it went home empty-handed. But the academy and the Western genre have always had an uneasy relationship, with only three Westerns ever winning best picture.

Christian Bale won supporting actor for his role as the drug-addicted former boxer in “The Fighter.” “What the hell am I doing here in the midst of you?” Bale said, referring to all the talent in the room. He singled out his co-stars, including Melissa Leo, who earlier had won for supporting actress for playing his mother in the film. But, Bale joked, “I’m not going to drop the F-bomb like she did.” (Leo later apologized for the emotional slip.)

Bale and Leo were considered shoo-ins, and it was just two of many awards that went as expected.

Adapted screenplay went to Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network,” and original screenplay went to David Seidler for “The King’s Speech.” “Toy Story 3” won animated film and original song for Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together.” Art direction went to production designer Robert Stromberg and set decorator Karen O’Hara for “Alice in Wonderland.” Cinematography went to Wally Pfister for “Inception.” Director Susanne Bier became only the third woman to win in the foreign language film category for Denmark’s “In a Better World.” (Bier had won the Golden Globe.) Original score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for “The Social Network,” and “Inception” won for sound mixing and sound editing. Makeup went to “The Wolfman,” and costume design went to Colleen Atwood for “Alice in Wonderland.”

Other honors given out were short subject documentary, which went to Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon for “Strangers No More,” a film about a Tel Aviv school for children struggling to overcome adversity. Live action short went to “God of Love” by Luke Matheny, who thanked his mother for doing craft services during shooting the film about a modern-day Cupid.

A buxom Oprah Winfrey handed out the Oscar for documentary feature to Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs for “Inside Job,” about what caused the country’s economic crisis. Ferguson noted that three years after the crisis, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, “and that’s wrong,” he said.

A surprise appearance by Billy Crystal, considered by many to be the best Oscar host over the past 20 years, earned a standing ovation. He introduced a tribute to the late Bob Hope, who had hosted the awards 18 times. Through movie magic and some crafty dubbing, Hope was projected, hologram-like, at a podium to crack wise and introduce presenters Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The pair handed out Oscars for visual effects (“Inception”) and editing (“The Social Network”).

To lure younger audiences, the academy chose James Franco, nominated for lead actor for “127 Hours,” and Anne Hathaway, nominated two years ago for lead actress for “Rachel Getting Married,” as emcees.

The pair kicked off the show with a clever montage in which they were injected into the top Oscar-nominated films, including “Inception,” “True Grit,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The King’s Speech” and more. After taking a trip “Back to the Future,” the couple ended up onstage for banter with each other -- and their mother and grandmother. A bit long perhaps but otherwise nonoffensive and kind of sweet.

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32 Most Inspiring Speeches In Film History

There's nothing better to fire you up than an inspiring speech.

A lot of great speeches come from sports movies, but that's not the only genre that can make us want to run through walls. Some speeches are so good it has us rooting for the bad guys. Most are by the good guys though, and we'll follow those good guys anywhere. Here is our list of the most inspiring speeches in film history.

Independence Day - President Witmore

President Thomas J. Whitmore's ( Bill Pullman ) speech in Independence Day has become one of the most iconic film moments of the last 50 years. While the movie can be polarizing, some people can't get enough of it, others hope to never see it again. Still, it's hard to find anyone who truly hates the speech and that moment in the film. If you ever find yourself fighting against annihilation by a bunch of E.T.s, this is the speech for you.

Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October

The Hunt For Red October - Captain Ramius

If you thought you could never get fired up about the Soviet Union picking a fight on the United States during the Cold War, check it out. When Captain Marko Ramius ( Sean Connery ) tells his crew that the salad days of the Cold War are not behind them, and the United States will "tremble again - at the sound of our silence," it makes you want to stand up and fight for communism. At least for a brief moment.

Any Given Sunday (Coach D'Amato)

It's used at almost every professional football game in America, almost every Sunday, because in Any Given Sunday , Coach D'Amato implores his team and the rest of us to claw for every inch we can. It might not be Pacino's most award-winning role, but that scene... that scene is some of his finest and most enduring work.

Gladiator (Maximus)

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius." If those words don't immediately fire you up, it's time to check for a pulse. Audiences spend most of Gladiator waiting for Maximus ( Russell Crowe ) to finally get his revenge on that conniving Commodus ( Joaquin Phoenix ) and finally we get it. Maximus will have his vengeance, in this life or the next.

Billy Bob Thornton in Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights (Coach Gaines)

In Friday Night Lights , Coach Gaines ( Billy Bob Thornton ) tells us how to be perfect. It has nothing to do with the final score, or winning. It's about how we treat each other and ourselves. It's about telling the truth and not letting anyone down. Live in the moment, "with joy in your heart." That's what makes us perfect. The swelling music by Explosions in the Sky only adds to the drama of the moment.

While he doesn't say "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose," (that comes from the TV show), he does mention his clear eyes and his full heart and afterward, none of us lose.

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Henry V (Henry V)

It's not just one of the most inspiring speeches in film history, it's one of the most famous speeches in human history. When William Shakespeare wrote the words to the famous St. Crispin's Day Speech in Henry V , he could not have known that it would be used for centuries afterward to inspire men. For we few, we lucky few, we can watch the speech brilliantly delivered by Kenneth Branagh in one of his finest roles , in his film version from 1989.

John Belushi in National Lampoon's Animal House

Animal House (Bluto)

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Of course it wasn't! Bluto (John Belushi) does a lot to inspire the brothers of the Delta house in Animal House but nothing more so than his speech after "Wormer dropped the big one" and suspended the fraternity. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, the men of Delta are inspired to have the best time of their lives, and Wormer? He's a dead man! Marmalard? Dead! Niedermeyer...

Gone With The Wind (Scarlett O'Hara)

Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) is not the most sympathetic movie character of all time. In fact, she ranks close to the bottom in that category, but you can't deny the power of her speech just before the end of the first part of the movie. Her family's plantation, Tara, is in shambles, her mother is dead, and her father has lost his mind. When all hope is lost, she promises herself she will fix it, and she will "never be hungry again."

Barbie (Gloria)

It's truly a show-stopping moment in Barbie when Gloria ( America Ferrera ) lays out what it's like to be a woman in today's world. The entire essence of the movie's message is summed up in that brilliant speech. It makes everyone want to jump up on their feet and applaud. It's a moment that will forever live in cinema history.

Robin Williams as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting screenshot

Good Will Hunting (Sean Maguire)

It's not just the words that matter. It takes a special actor to deliver a speech like Sean Maguire's in Good Will Hunting . Thankfully there was the great Robin Williams. In a speech that is meant to devastate and inspire Will (Matt Damon), Williams tells him everything he is doing wrong but manages to show him how he can fix it, and open up an entirely new world for himself. It's cutting and loving. And brilliant. "Your move, chief."

Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (Aragorn)

Like so many other battle scenes in movies, Aragorn's (Viggo Mortensen) speech at the Black Gates in Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King has us willing to fight to the death with our fellow soldiers. There is nothing like a leader riding back and forth on horse inspiring his troops.

Braveheart (William Wallace)

Always remember, that no matter how badly you are treated by a tyrannical English king, he can never take your freedom! William Wallace (Mel Gibson) brilliantly reminds us of that in Braveheart . While it's easy to mock the poor history telling in the movie (and we argue if it was really one of the best movies of 1995 ), you can never say that the speech Wallace gives before the biggest battle in the movie won't have you ready to take on the entire British Empire.

Keira Knightly in Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Elizabeth)

Speeches made by leaders to inspire men in battle aren't unique in movies. What makes the speech unique in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is that the speech is made by a woman. Elizabeth's (Keira Knightly) speech isn't a lot different than a lot of its ilk, but it's more inspiring to hear it from a woman because we've never heard that before. So hoist the colors!

Stripes (John Winger)

John Winger (Bill Murray) is the biggest misfit in a platoon filled with them in Stripes . He's the least likely to inspire the rest with a razzle-dazzle speech firing them up, yet that's exactly what he does before their graduation from boot camp. Bill Murray has some of the best lines in movie history, and this speech is near the top of them.

Miracle (Herb Brooks)

"Great moments are born from great opportunity." That is something we can all stand to remember. In Miracle , Herb Brooks inspires his rag-tag team of college kids to defeat maybe the greatest hockey team ever assembled in the Soviet National Team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The movie is based on a true story and while it's impossible to know exactly with the real Brooks said, if it was anywhere close to what Russell delivers, it's no surprise we all believe in miracles today.

Rocky IV (Rocky Balboa)

The Cold War inspired a lot of movies, even sports movies like Rocky IV . Early in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) wasn't a man of many words, but at the end of Rocky IV , he finds some of the most inspiring words of the whole series, imploring all of us to get along, despite our differences.

Swingers (Trent)

What's a good friend if not someone to pep you up when you're feeling low? That's exactly who Trent (Vince Vaughn) is to Mike (Jon Favreau) in Swingers . Not only does he take him to Vegas for a night of fun, on the way home, after the trip doesn't pep Mike up as much as it should, Trent explains exactly why Mike is so money, and he doesn't even know it.

Peter Finch stands in the newsroom, looking mad as hell, in Network.

Network (Howard Beale)

It's scary just how much a movie like Network , released almost 50 years ago is still so relevant. We don't need Howard Beale (Peter Finch) to tell us just how bad things are, we just need to him to inspire us to go to the window, open the window and yell to the world that we're not going to take it anymore!

The Goonies (Mikey)

"The Goonies never say die!" When all seems lost in the Goonies quest to rescue their neighborhood from developers, Mikey (Sean Astin) reminds them all exactly how far they've come in the quest for One-Eyed Willie's gold. We don't get a lot of inspirational speeches from kids, but when we do, we love them.

Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz in Clueless, classroom monologue

Clueless (Cher)

When Cher (Alicia Silverstone) compares her garden party to a refugee crisis, your inclination is to think she's an airhead. But like so many before and after her, there is kind of a subtle brilliance to her thought process. She takes what she knows and uses that to find the emotion we should all feel for her side of the argument.

Sean Penn stands smiling in a doorway in Milk.

Milk (Harvey Milk)

Milk , based on the true story of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), is inspiring in and of itself, but Milk's speech on the steps of San Fransisco City Hall at the Gay Pride Rally is a masterpiece.

Troy (Achilles)

In another classic example of a military leader inspiring his troops, Achilles' (Brad Pitt) speech reminding his men that they are lions, is enough to get anyone to storm the beaches of Troy. There's a reason the story has been told for thousands of years.

Norma Rae (Norma Rae)

The best thing about Norma Rae's (Sally Field, in one of her best roles ) speech in Norma Rae is that the most important word isn't spoken at all. She simply holds up a sign that says "Union" in the middle of her sweatshop. That's all she needs to "say" to get everyone in the textile mill to agree. It's brilliant.

We Are Marshall (Jack Lengyel)

We Are Marshall tells the tragic and heroic story of the 1971 Marshall University football team. At the end of the 1970 season, a plane carrying most of the team and its coaches crashed in North Carolina. Before the start of the next season, the new coach, Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) makes a speech at a memorial for some of the lost players and what he says about never forgetting the past but looking to the future will bring a tear to anyone's eyes.

Legally Blonde (Elle Woods)

More than 20 years after the first Legally Blonde movie was released Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) continues to inspire us. With an address like the one she makes at the end of the movie, as she's graduating, it's easy to see why. "You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself."

Avengers: Endgame (Captain America)

In a room full of superheroes, leave it to Captain America to make the hype speech. In Avengers: Endgame , that's exactly when Cap (Chris Evans) psyches the cadre up for their mission to reverse the Snap. "Whatever it takes."

Hoosiers (Norman Dale)

When tiny Hickman High School makes it to the Indiana State Basketball Finals, they are facing a huge school, in a huge arena. Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) takes only a minute or so to lay out what will make them successful, and a minute is all he needs. It's why Hoosiers one of the best sports movies ever made.

Rudy (Rudy)

The speech in Rudy is a little different. Rudy really has no audience, save for one person, but that doesn't stop him from delivering a first-rate speech that any Notre Dame alum gets goosebumps when they hear it, including the parts he lifted from the great Knute Rockne.

Juno (Mac MacGuff)

When Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page) is wondering what her future holds, her father Mac MacGuff (J.K. Simmons) explains simply and succinctly, "The best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Stand And Deliver (Jaime Escalante)

Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) is a no-nonsense math teacher who is determined to get the most from his students. He decides he needs to raise the level of expectations inside and outside of the classroom and he starts by breaking down when he is going to be so hard on his students, to get the most out of them. All they need is ganas – motivation.

Rocky Balboa (Rocky)

Leave it to Rocky to make a speech in 2006's Rocky Balboa meant to inspire his son to inspire all of us together. It's pure Rocky, leave it all out, don't accept things you don't like, and never make excuses, no matter how hard it is. And it seems like this was advice he took to heart when it became a struggle to make the film .

300 (Dilios)

Dilios (David Wenham) fires up the Spartans like no other person could. It's truly one of the great hype speeches in film history. It's exactly what you would expect from a civilization of warriors. Whether it really happened or not is irrelevant. The message is the same, "Remember us."

From sports to war, love to education, and beyond, a great speech raises goosebumps like nothing else in film can. These examples are some of the best speeches we've used to inspire us.

Hugh Scott is the Syndication Editor for CinemaBlend. Before CinemaBlend, he was the managing editor for Suggest.com and Gossipcop.com, covering celebrity news and debunking false gossip. He has been in the publishing industry for almost two decades, covering pop culture – movies and TV shows, especially – with a keen interest and love for Gen X culture, the older influences on it, and what it has since inspired. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in Political Science but cured himself of the desire to be a politician almost immediately after graduation.

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David Seidler, Oscar-winning writer of The King’s Speech , dies at 86

The British screenwriter earned several accolades for the 2010 film, including two BAFTA's and an Academy Award.

David Seidler, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind 2010’s The King’s Speech , died Saturday while on a fly-fishing expedition in New Zealand. He was 86.

“David was in the place he loved most in the world — New Zealand — doing what gave him the greatest peace which was fly-fishing,” his longtime manager Jeff Aghassi told EW in a statement. “If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it.”

Born in London on Aug. 3, 1937, Seidler spent his early childhood years in the English city before his family relocated to New York amidst World War II. During the voyage, he developed a stutter and wouldn’t have a speech therapy breakthrough until he was 16. This partially inspired him to write The King’s Speech , which won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

The film tells the true story of King George VI’s ( Colin Firth ) struggle to overcome his severe stutter with the help of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). The film picks up as George’s brother abdicates the throne, leaving George as the head of the British monarchy in 1937. The monarch goes on to forge a lasting friendship with Logue, as he prepares for his first wartime radio message after the start of World War II.

Michael Buckner/Getty

Ahead of the 2011 ceremony, Seidler was hesitant to discuss the film’s chances at the Academy Awards but told KPBS , "I have to be honest. Way down in the recesses of my soul, I thought this is the little film that could. I think this may really be able to get out there. I had this silent hope that I never expressed because it seemed so ridiculous and so far-fetched."

The film received 12 Oscar nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture. Firth took home a trophy for his performance as King George, and Tom Hooper won for Best Director. The King’s Speech earned many more accolades, including seven BAFTAs.

Seidler also penned a stage version of The King's Speech , which opened in London on the West End in 2012. The script has since been translated into more than half a dozen languages and performed across four continents. Plans for the play to head to Broadway fell through in 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seidler wrote multiple TV and movie scripts over the years — many of which he co-penned with his former writing partner, Jacqueline Feather. Their credits include Dancing in the Dark, Come on, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story, and By Dawn’s Early Light . They also worked on several animated children’s musicals, such as T he King and I, Quest for Camelot, and Madeline: Lost in Paris. Throughout his career, Seidler wrote episodes for series like Days of Our Lives, Another World, General Hospital, and Son of the Dragon . With Arnold Schulman, he cowrote Francis Ford Coppola ’s 1988 comedy drama Tucker: The Man and His Dream.

Seidler is survived by his children, Marc and Maya.

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Sean Baker Shades Streamers While Calling on Hollywood to 'Keep Cinema Alive' in Rousing Cannes Speech | Video

S ean Baker achieved the "singular goal" he's been working toward his entire filmmaking career on Saturday when he won the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival's coveted Palme d'Or for his sex worker drama "Anora."

Speaking breathlessly to the ceremony's black-tied international audience after thanking the festival jury — as led by writer-director Greta Gerwig — and his film's various collaborators, stars and producers, the acclaimed indie filmmaker turned his attention to his mounting concern over the future of cinema. Specifically, he addressed the moviegoing experience.

"This literally has been my singular goal as a filmmaker for the past 30 years, so I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. But I do know that I will continue to fight for cinema because right now as filmmakers, we have to fight to keep cinema alive," Baker said. He then turned his attention to the matter at hand: "This means making feature films intended for theatrical exhibition."

"The world has to be reminded that watching a film at home while scrolling through your phone, while checking emails and half paying attention, is just not the way — although some tech companies would like us to think so," Baker continued, winking to the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max, Disney+ and Hulu. He argued for the community built around theatrical moviegoing.

"Watching a film with others in a movie theater is one of the great communal experiences. We share laughter, sorrow, anger, fear and hopefully have a catharsis with our friends and strangers -- and that's sacred," he said before he concluded: "So I see the future of cinema as where is started: in a movie theater."

Sean Baker receives the 'Palme D'Or' Award for

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Richard dreyfuss slammed for alleged sexist and homophobic comments at ‘jaws’ screening.

The Massachusetts theater that hosted the actor has apologized for his remarks, writing in a statement, "We deeply regret the distress that this has caused to many of our patrons.“

By Kevin Dolak , Carly Thomas May 27, 2024 10:06am

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A Massachusetts theater is apologizing to its patrons who came to attend a screening of Jaws with star Richard Dreyfuss but instead were subjected to alleged sexist and homophobic comments from the actor over Memorial Day weekend.

Attendees who headed Saturday to The Cabot theater in Beverly, Massachusetts, for what was billed as “An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening” were likely anticipating some amusing or insightful anecdotes from the actor about filming the classic Steven Spielberg action blockbuster.

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Speak No Evil

A family invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, goes from a dream vacation to a psychological nightmare. A family invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, goes from a dream vacation to a psychological nightmare. A family invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, goes from a dream vacation to a psychological nightmare.