Refreshingly chronological!

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2015)

The best thing about this biopic is that it avoids 2 things that plague modern biopics nowadays: 1. jumping back and forth in time and 2. showing just the sordid, usually later part of the subject's life. This straightforward and effective biopic about scientist Stephen Hawking focuses primarily on the effect of coping with ALS on a family and the physical and emotional difficulties they face. Because this happened in the UK there seems to be no major financial difficulty like insurance running out etc. It's sympathetic to his wife since it's based on her book. Don't quite understand his scientific contribution party but it isn't about that. The recent biopic Mr Turner was dreadfully boring and showed things no one wanted to see. Also the one about Dickens with Ralph Fiennes was pretty bad too. At least in Theory you see what you want to see. Felicity Jones as his wife is right for the role - not too pretty. Eddie Redmayne finally has found a role that suits him. He isn't handsome enough for major romantic lead roles like Les Mis. So this role is just right for him with his slightly crooked features. He looks a lot like the person he is playing, much more so than many other biopics of late. It isn't right to give an Oscar just because the actor is portraying terrible illness on screen but in this case he is pretty good. Overall even though it is done in as light hearted a way as possible, the subject matter isn't pleasant and doesn't bear more than one viewing.