The Theory of Everything

What can you do with a film like The Theory of Everything? It’s exactly what it intends to be: a straightforward potted history of a real-life figure that delivers emotional uplift while making eyes at awards voters. We should probably accept it for what it is, but it's still deflating to watch director James Marsh carefully guide his portrait of Stephen Hawking from one clichéd scene to another, displaying no artistic ambitions beyond that. Must a film about an extraordinary man be so ordinary?

What elevates The Theory of Everything above mediocrity is the chemistry between its two leads. Redmayne is remarkably convincing and charming in this most challenging of roles, and Jones is very moving, even if she is too often pushed to the margins and forced to play the dutiful wife. A more interesting and courageous adaptation of Jane Hawking's memoir would have stuck to her perspective. We've seen so many similar films about the struggles of great men; perhaps it's time for a film celebrating the unsung women in their lives. [Philip Concannon]