The Theory of Everything: Or, The Stephen Hawking Story Written By Rob Reiner

The Theory of Everything for me was... unexpected.  What I expected was a biopic of the life of Stephen Hawking.  His genius at the beginning, his deterioration through the years as he succumbs to ALS, his meeting of his wife, Jane, his inspirations for his life's work including his book.  This is what I expected.  However, while all of this information was... sorta... provided, it was mostly glossed over.  What I got was more of a romantic drama about a smart guy with a stressed girl who try to keep their family and situation "normal".

It's a difficult task to make a film about someone as exceptional and important as Stephen Hawking.  There's trying to portray accuracy, as well as entertain, as well as please the man who is still alive and watching it.  The film hits a few of these right on the head, but misses more.  It's ironic... Hawking's work is all about time and time in this movie is the most glossed over aspect of the film.  We don't really get to see the slow and agonizing deterioration of Stephen Hawking's body.  We see him in stage one.  Then a couple years goes by and he's in stage two.  Then a couple years go by and he's in stage three.  And so on.  I don't actually know how to articulate just what is missing in these scenes, but it doesn't feel like it should have.  It feels as though there was just too much to do, so instead of montages we're left with assumptions.  We're just supposed to accept that this is the next logical stage of their marriage, of his disease.  And while it isn't overtly bad... it's jarring to say the least.

What's perfect, however, is the casting.  Eddie Redmayne has give a performance worthy of gold.  Real life Stephen Hawking himself even said that the performance was remarkable and even made him cry.  That's how great he is.  He transcends great in this movie.  He's perfect.  Unfortunately, he's given the performance of his life during a year where a lot of actors have done the same and I feel he will be at a loss to someone like Gyllenhaal or Carell.  Redmayne, as Hawking, holds nothing back.  If you ever want to see how unbelievable horrific a disease ALS is, you need look no further than here.  Felicity Jones, an actress I wasn't familiar with prior to this film, is actually very good as well.  She gives Jane a tough exterior while she is clearly in just as much emotional pain inside as Hawking is outside.  It's subtle, but wonderful.

The film isn't bad enough to be considered a Lifetime biopic.  I just don't think it was handled by capable enough hands as it should have been.  It's a decent depiction of the life of these two, but their relationship isn't exactly the most tantalizing story of Hawking's life.  His struggling relationship with his wife and children are kind of the B story to the overall A story inside the mind of a genius that wasn't hardly able to articulate any of it.  Instead, the romance is the A story and everything else is on the back burners.  There is beauty to the film in the way that it's shot and the performances are unbelievable.  It is for these reasons alone that I would suggest viewing this film, however there will still be a little bit left after the movie ends that will leave you feeling strangely unsatisfied.  You won't exactly be able to pinpoint all of the reasons, but there will be just something missing.  What's missing are the gaps in time and the character changes we wanted to see but are instead passed over as unimportant and accepted as such.  The movie deserves to be just as fascinating as the person it is about, yet it doesn't quite reach that level.  Hell, maybe that's the point.  The level of Hawking is unreachable.  The rest of us can just do our best.

C+