The Theory of Everything

Tali: The Theory of Everything tells the compelling story of Stephen and Jane Hawking, and what looks like the most difficult and drawn out marriage ever. In all seriousness, continuing with the Oscar biopic marathon we are on, we all know Stephen's narrative already. But, what we don't know, is how humourous he was (is?) throughout his bodily decline, how dedicated his wife was to him, and what this ultimately says about the human condition. I was more than a little nervous that this film would just be an exercise in crip drag, but thankfully, it wasn't. Eddie Redmayne's performance is what (Oscar) dreams are made of - just totally superb. But, the movie was slow in parts, and the ending made my jaw drop and I wasn't too happy. 81/100.

Leo: I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. It wasn't all science, but it was enough that I felt it gave Stephen Hawking's brilliance at least some standing within the film rather than simply just repeating it. Eddie Redmayne was outstanding, but the supporting cast was not quite as good (except somehow Professor Lupin is back from the dead and teaches physics instead of defence against the dark arts and Owen from Boardwalk Empire was up to his old sneaky tricks). It was odd that I sort of felt that the humour Stephen was constantly showed made perfect sense. I'm usually the first one to make a joke about something serious and I think a quote from the movie V for Vendetta really applies here:

              Evey Hammond: Is everything a joke to you, Gordon?
              Gordon Deitrich: Only the things that matter.

I like that someone else has taken that perspective. As for the movie and story....as tragic as it was I feel like the story was slow and slightly wishy-washy. Jane Hawking has an interesting perspective and the complexity of her and Stephen is very interesting, but Felicity Jones merely delivered the frustrated narrative effectively but not any others. And I think the score was outstanding. Leometer: 84/100.