Every time someone famous dies, social media explodes with the moaning eulogies of random people claiming to have a special connection with that person's life's work. It's fucking annoying, because most of the time it isn't true. It's going to be interesting though when scientific alpha dog Stephen Hawking kicks the bucket, because 1) he's been suffering from a degenerative disease for several decades now, and 2) I will dare people all day to explain to my what Hawking brought to humanity without copy pasting from his Wikipedia page.
In preparation for this moment (and because the Academy Awards are tomorrow), I've taken two hours of my precious time to watch THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING this week, a biopic on Stephen Hawking's life that's nominated in several categories, including best male lead actor and best picture. Obviously, it didn't teach me much about Hawking's scientific legacy, but it's a decent Oscar-centric film that portrays a man who has given and given, and who is going to keep selflessfly giving to humanity until the reaper comes.
So, believe it or not, Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) used to be not handicapped and just as brilliant as he is now. He was a PhD student in Cambridge, passionate about theoretical physics, cosmology and his girlfriend Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease during his college years and reacted just like any healthy young man in the middle of something important would: he refused to stop. Back then, specialists gave him two years to live and here he is today, living with the disease for close to 50 years. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING is a movie about overcoming insurmountable obstacles, sure. It's meant to be inspiring. It also also makes a great case as to why you'll never have the emotional fortitude of Stephen Hawking.
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING is like "that guy" at the dance. He's clean of his person, moderately handsome, pleasant, polite, your mother would love him but he doesn't have anything interesting to say. The movie never really get into Stephen Hawking's ideas, although it had several golden opportunities to. It doesn't seem interested to. It's a standard biopic characterized by pompous use of background piano music and high contrast photography. We've been there before, haven't we? THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING would've been an unfortunately uneventful movie if it wasn't for the terrific acting of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.
I don't like to talk about acting a lot when I review a movie, because it rarely has anything to do with the movie's meaning and performances that standout from the actual movies are extremely rare. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING is an exception to this rule. I would've probably bailed on this movie if it hadn't been for Eddie Redmayne's spectacular rendition of Hawking's physical deterioration. That guy doesn't look anything like Hawking and fucking pulverized it. He doesn't just look the part. Redmayne has noticeably acting chops. There's a scene where he actually has to cry as silent, paralyzed Stephen Hawking and the electricity is so palpable in the air, between him and Felicity Jones that I choked up for a nanosecond. Getting emotional is also a rare occurrence for me in movies, so it deserves to be mentioned.
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING is not bad, stupid, preachy or anything like that. It's just not a very interesting or engaging account of Stephen Hawking's life. It looks pretty, but it doesn't have that original spark or that sense of identity such a movie needs in order to be meaningful. The main thing I've learned about him is that he's been living with Lou Gehrig's disease for a ridiculously long time and that I'll feel a gratitude for the many-worlds interpretation of Quantum physics and a slight relief because he's given so much of himself. Don't cry Stephen Hawking when he's going to pass. The man has live twice as much as you'll ever will.