'The Theory of Everything': stale Oscar bait hiding brilliant performances from Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne

The Theory of Everything makes one thing painfully clear: it is really hard to make an interesting, dramatic biopic when every major player in the story is still alive. We know that Stephen Hawking, the film's subject and played by Eddie Redmayne, is going to get diagnosed with ALS. We know that he's going to live beyond the two years a doctor gives him and – spoiler alert if you really don't know about Hawking's personal life – he's later going to leave his doting wife for his nurse. Director James Marsh and screenwriter Anthony McCarten fail to turn all of these into dramatic points in the film, instead presenting events more as a list than a coherent story.

The film is based on Jane Wilde Hawking's book Traveling To Infinity: My Life with Stephen Hawking, which may explain why the film's strongest suit is showing the love story between Jane (Felicity Jones) and Hawking (Redmayne). As they are falling in love, Hawking begins to develop symptoms of ALS. After a dangerous fall, he is taken to a doctor, who gives him the bad news. He's got two years to live. Jane wants to spend that time with him and they get married.

At this point comes the first unresolved issue in the film. The medical miracle that Hawking remains living to this day – he's now 72 – is never explained. Hawking obviously doesn't die within two years, but the extra time that Hawking gets isn't obsessed about. Of course, that's more a testament to Jane's ability to keep Hawking's mind focusing on his work and not dwelling on mortality. Hawking never thinks, “What did I do to deserve a long life?” because not only does he not care, neither does Marsh.

By the time Hawking is completely wheelchair-bound, Jane has dedicated her life to him after giving birth to three children. There's a threat of drama, as Jane begins to fall in love with her choir teacher (Charlie Cox), but Hawking still likes having him around as an unpaid male nurse. In the latter third of the film, it feels like Marsh is working against the clock and Theory must be over in two hours. So, he pushes the accelerator.

On one end, it's genius economy in storytelling, as Hawking falls for his nurse (Maxine Peake) with just a few glances. But it also robs Jane of a chance to put her foot down. When Hawking tells Jane that his nurse will go with him to America, there's no argument. She begins crying, but she comes to terms with the idea. Poor Felicity Jones, who gives a knockout performance as Jane, is robbed of a chance to really tear into the betrayal.

The Theory of Everything also fails to really capture Hawking’s genius, but that’s clearly not the focus. Say what you will about A Beautiful Mind, but in that case Ron Howard presented a genius at work. Here, Marsh and McCarten’s focus is centered on the love story, more than Hawking’s theories. That’s another reason why it’s so disappointing to see the romance end without a flare up.

The script has its shortcomings, so the acting has to be the reason to see this film. And both Redmayne and Jones do live up to the awards they’ve already been nominated for. Redmayne has a particularly difficult time trying to act as a man who can’t even use his arms to show emotion. Instead, Redmayne relies on his surprisingly articulate eyebrows. He makes it hard to see anyone else in the role, which is exactly what a good performance should do. The moment where he struggles to get up the stairs is truly heartbreaking.

Marsh’s mise-en-scene also deserves some kudos. The filmmaker, who is more known for his documentary Man on Wire than his features, makes seeing Theory on the big screen worthwhile. He tries to bring this simple love story to the cosmos, from the party scene earlier into the film to Hawking’s stare into the fire, and it works there.

Theory desperately tries to be more than a standard biopic, but the script is a big letdown. It is centered on a love story that ends in a break-up of two people who remain friends to this day. Time has been kind to Dr. Hawking, and Theory is a bit too kind.