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Review Roundup: Eddie Redmayne Stars in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

By: Nov. 07, 2014
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Inspired by Jane Hawking's memoir 'Traveling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen', THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING hits theaters today! The film was directed by James Marsh with a screenplay by Anthony McCarten.

Categorized as a romantic-biographical film, the story follows the relationship of Stephen and Jane Hawking, beginning from their initial meeting at Cambridge in the 1960s and spanning through Stephen's discovery of ALS and his numerous strides in physics.

The film stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones and Stephen and Jane Hawking, with support from Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, and David Thewlis.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The greater failing is that Mr. Marsh....seems in this case unable to capture the spirit and energy of scientific inquiry. The substance of Stephen's work is shoehorned into a few compressed, overly dramatic scenes.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The Theory of Everything, referring to Hawking's dream of finding an equation to explain all existence, is riveting science, emotional provocation and one-of-a-kind love story all rolled into one triumphant film. Bravo.

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This is a dramatization that Hawking himself has called "broadly true," a story whose honesty we want to believe in. It is fortunate that it has the kind of exceptional cast that allows us to do just that.

Justin Chang, Variety: what's onscreen is less a cerebral experience than a stirring and bittersweet love story, inflected with tasteful good humor...

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Theory of Everything is inspiring as a tale of fighting a debilitating physical infirmity. It's also a compelling personal history that's not exactly brief, but perhaps a bit limited in its scope.

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Rather than go for big ideas, the movie cozies up to small wonders. Instead of an ah-ha moment, we get a sigh of familiarity.

Scott Mendelson, Forbes: ...the film truly excels by presenting a more sympathetic portrait of a potentially famous/important woman who is perhaps doomed, paraphrasing Nicole Kidman in Hemingway & Gelhorn, to become a footnote in a great man's life.

Catherine Shoard, The Guardian: It's a film to leave you reeling but cheered, too. It's about battling love, as well as illness. A universal story, extracted from a unique one.

Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge: It's a movie about a relationship, but it's still structured like a biopic, which ultimately creates a storytelling structure that doesn't quite work out.

Dana Stevens, Slate: The physicist's theories come in handy here mainly for the abstract truths they symbolize: the potentially unlimited reach of human knowledge, the melancholy mystery of time's unrelenting forward motion.

Photo Credit: Official Site

Eddie Redmayne won the 2010 Tony Award as best featured actor in a play for his performance in RED. He originated his role in RED in 2009 at the Donmar Warehouseand won the Olivier Award for the performance that season. Redmayne made his professional stage debut for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple Hall in 2002. He won the award for Outstanding Newcomer at the 50th Evening Standard Theatre Awards (2004) for his performance in Edward Albee's THE GOAT OR WHO IS SYLVIA?, and the award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2005. Additional stage credits include Now or Later by Christopher Shinn at theRoyal Court Theatre.

His television credits include the BBC miniseries Tess Of The D'Urbervilles and the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth. Film credits include The Good Shepherd, Powder Blue, Savage Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl and Glorious 39. He also starred as Osmund in Christopher Smith's supernatural gothic chiller film Black Death, the Oscar-nominated Les Miserables, and My Week with Marilyn.



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