After finally seeing it, after it being on my long “to see” list that got bigger and bigger, as my music and course commitments grew, for a while, found ‘The Theory of Everything’ a good film with several superb elements that could have better considering the subject
Saw ‘The Theory of Everything’ as someone who like biographical dramas (even if a lot play liberties with the truth), especially the inspiring ones that have a lot of emotional impact (and there are plenty of those out there), and who was interested in both the subject matter and Stephen Hawking himself. The trailer was also appetising and then there was the awards attention.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that this movie features Hawking as a supporting character while his wife takes centre stage
While critically praised, audience reaction leans towards the more positive but more divisive for reasons that are understandable, being someone who agrees with a few of the criticisms if not all.
There is the agreement that ‘The Theory of Everything’, being based on his first wife’s memoir meaning there is a lot of his personal life, could have focused more on what made Hawking so brilliant as a scientist/cosmologist, how he contributed to the subject with his theories, his importance to it and how he was perceived, there wasn’t enough of that.
Another criticism that is shared by me is the rushed and jumpy nature of the narrative as a result of trying to cram a lot and there is the sense that in doing that that it tried to do too much.
However, ‘The Theory of Everything’ is photographed and designed beautifully, while it’s sensitively directed, by someone who clearly had a passion and sympathy for what was focused on, and hauntingly scored.
It is a thoughtfully written film and explores his heavily-focused on personal life with delicacy, 
Eddie Redmayne gave one of that year’s best performances, a truly poignant and powerful performance and a career best thus far. His make-up is remarkable. Felicity Jones is the emotional back-bone of the story in a way and it is just as much about her as it is with him, and her acting is subtle and warm while showing Jane as having as as many flaws as she did strengths. The chemistry between them has a lot of heart.
I was really enthused about watching THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, the Stephen Hawking biopic featuring an Oscar-winning performance from Eddie Redmayne. The reason is that it’s adapted from a book that Hawking’s wife wrote.
No offense to Mrs. Hawking, but I have little interest in seeing her life and the cheesy Mills and Boons moments with Charlie Cox (as much as I like him) play out. I want to see Hawking, and I want to hear about his theories on the universe. There’s little to no science present here, leaving the experience oddly hollow. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING’s saving grace is Redmayne himself, who delivers a gruelling, exhausting, incredibly accurate portrayal of a man gripped by disability and defying the odds at every turn; he fully deserved his Oscar and gives the best portrayal of disability I’ve seen in a movie since INSIDE I’M DANCING. It’s just a pity that, Redmayne aside, the film is quite average.