You probably don’t want to see the Stephen Hawking movie, but you should
Forget ebola, ISIS and the fact that there’s a new Nickelback album. Nothing has terrified me more over the past few weeks than “The Theory of Everything.”
It’s 1963, and Cambridge cosmology student Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) is smitten with a young woman (Felicity Jones) who’s hoping to get her Ph.D. in medieval poetry of the Iberian Peninsula.
When he refuses to dance with her at a university function, you want to shake him for wasting the opportunity, because you know what’s coming.
It begins with slight stumble at a train station. His hands betray him at a chalkboard. Then Hawking suffers a sudden, vicious collapse.
He’s diagnosed with a motor neuron disease and told he has two years to live. Ever the scientist, Hawking wants to spend those years working, not distracted by love.
“The Theory of Everything” — now playing at the Colonnade, Downtown Summerlin, Suncoast and Town Square — showcases the silly, playful side of Hawking most of the world never got to see.
And Redmayne (“Les Miserables”) delivers a staggering performance, highlighted by the physicality of Hawking’s rapid decline.
“The Theory of Everything” plays out like one of those classic best-picture nominees that hardly anyone really wants to see. It’s at times painful to watch.
But it’s also a movie about triumph.
And the frightening reminder that life as you know it can turn on a dime should have you carpe diem-ing for weeks to come.