Worth seeing for Eddie Redmayne's performance alone

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2015)

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING has everything you'd expect from the typical Hollywood biopic, and as such is rather predictable. Not only that, but its subject is still alive (and very famous) which robs it of a lot of dramatic tension. Still, Eddie Redmayne gives an extraordinary, transformative performance as Stephen Hawking, as does Felicity Jones as his long-suffering first wife Jane. The story starts with Hawking's years at Cambridge and up through the publication of "A Brief History of Time." Instead of focusing on the accomplishments, the film is really about the relationship between him and his first wife, as the book is based on her memoir. The romance kind of comes out of nowhere, but after spending two hours with them you really begin to feel for them, especially Jane, who ended up having to put in overtime as her husband's caregiver (until help was brought in). The scenes which show the gradual progress of Hawking's condition (Motor Neuron Disease/ALS) were quite moving as well, but only in the most general sense. It also "helped" that the score hinted at just the right moments when you were supposed to be emotionally affected. So, while the film is sure to stir up emotion and possibly provoke tears at certain points, nothing the film does with those moments is that special in and of itself. What really makes this film worth seeing is for Eddie Redmayne's performance, which deservedly won him the Best Actor Oscar this year. Of course, the rest of the cast, which includes Emily Watson, Charlie Cox and David Thewlis, does outstanding work as well. Overall, it's not particularly groundbreaking in terms of the biopic and romance formula, or in its execution, but Eddie Redmayne takes it to another level with his portrayal of one of the world's greatest living minds.