REVIEW: ‘Theory of Everything’ portrays authentic, emotional love story

The Theory of Everything proves to have a little bit of everything.

Over Thanksgiving break while most people were stuffing their faces and watching football, I decided to venture out into the world and see The Theory of Everything.

This movie tells the story of Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne), the world-renowned physicist and professor who developed motor neuron disease as a young college student. This disease affects everyday motor skills, such as walking, talking, moving in general, and eventually swallowing.

The film mainly focuses on the love story between him and his wife Jane (Felicity Jones). They met as young students and fell in love almost instantly. When he was diagnosed with his disease, she vowed to stand by him. It follows their relationship through all of its ups and downs – from having their first child to Jane trying to figure out how to balance taking care of him and their children.

I’m not usually drawn to love stories, but this one was so touching and emotional it was hard not to like it. The amount of love that Jane had for Stephen was just so remarkable, it left me a little shaken in the end, and I do not usually get emotional when it comes to movies.

Redmayne did a phenomenal job at portraying Hawking. Every movement he made was so well thought out and so well acted, it was honestly hard to believe that he’s not actually plagued with motor neuron disease. He was sarcastic and witty and just all around a fantastic choice for the role.

Although the movie was great, I was disappointed that it didn’t focus more on Hawking’s work. He would just kind of pop up at meetings and discussions. It never showed his process on how he came to his conclusions or the effort it took for him to get to that point.

The film also portrays some relationships without enough details. Hawking’s family was in the movie, but it never discussed what kind of relationship he had with his family or what kind of upbringing he had, which could have opened more doors as to why Hawking was the way he was. There were also many encounters with friends that were also dry. It would’ve been nice to see how he interacted with and cared for other people besides Jane.

All in all, it was a fantastic movie that sends the audience on an emotional rollercoaster.

Rating: 8/10