A Well Made Film With Terrific Acting

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2015)

"The Theory of Everything" is an adaption of the memoir of Jane Hawking, wife of renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, the Oxford professor who is as well known for his struggle with ALS and being confined to a wheel chair as he is for his work on black holes and astrophysics. The movie examines Hawking's life, paying particular attention to his personal life with wife Jane and their three children, all of whom were born after Hawking was diagnosed with ALS. The film features some of the strongest acting that you're likely to see in the 2015 Oscar field, with both Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne turning out stellar performances —but, in the interest of being honest, it's Redmayne that really steals the show, as he becomes Hawking in a way that eclipses most any role that has ever been played on the silver screen. It would be a travesty if Redmayne were not to win the Oscar this year, and while I have yet to see the other films that the Best Actress pool of nominees is pulled from, Redmayne may win Best Actress for Jones as well. We shall see.
That having been said, the film itself is overall quite well made and is ultimately time well spent. Still, the storyline itself ultimately makes the film take a bit of a hit, as its hard to make Hawking's narrative into as enjoyable of an experience as other films in the biographical genre, even those that are equally tragic in nature (such as its 2015 Best Picture competitor "The Imitation Game", which tells the story of fellow British academic and genius, Alan Turing). The end result here is a strong film with amazing acting, but one which ultimately only deserves 8/10 stars in terms of its overall quality—granted that this 8/10 movie is yet a very impressive work in its own right.