Review of The Theory of Everything (2014) by Nikoletta B — 05 Mar 2015
Where do I start with this movie? There are so many things I disliked about it. Let's start with the one thing I DID like. The acting was superb. Eddie Redmayne deserved that Oscar for all the charm he brought to this turd of a movie. He is the only reason I sat through the whole thing. He has a spark that makes it hard to tear your eyes away from him. I wish I could say the same for his costar, who played a character advertised as Stephen Hawking's "tireless first wife." She had exactly one scene where she told another character how strong she was, and the rest were spent crying and self pitying.
Which brings me to my next point: was this movie shot to simulate the uncontrollable empathetic sobs of the audience? Because I wasn't crying and I was wearing my glasses, but nearly the entire movie was poorly lit, colored in similar pastels, and slightly... blurred. Clearly I am not of the artistic caliber required to understand the art direction. It looked to me like they dropped their lens in Vaseline and forgot to wipe it off all the way.
Finally, I'll just skip ahead to the worst thing about this chore of a movie: the plot. It can be summarized in one small sentence, which would have made a much more truthful tagline for the posters. "Watch this marriage fail." We don't really get the nice parts of their relationship, the loving (or even liking) moments they theoretically shared as a couple who loved each other. All we got was her crying as she failed to take care of her husband and multiplying gaggle of children.
Oh, and the children. I understand that I will likely be alone in hating this, but the message of the movie was the CHILDREN? How special. You hated each other for years but you made three people so it's all fine!
And one more thing while I'm at it. This movie could not make up it's mind about whether it wanted to tout a religious message or not. It was like a shy missionary, knocking at your door ready to tell you all about Jesus and then scampering away as soon as you answer! It came across as weirdly preachy but without actually espousing any system of belief.
In summary, this is a weird Frankenstein's monster of a movie and I don't recommend it. But it was nominated for an Oscar so what do I know?
This review of The Theory of Everything (2014) was written by Nikoletta B on 05 Mar 2015.
The Theory of Everything has generally received very positive reviews.
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