Critic consensus:Part biopic, part love story, The Theory of Everything rises on James Marsh's polished direction and the strength of its two leads.

Numbered reviews:1. Eddie Redmayne's captivating performance will be compared to Daniel Day Lewis's in "My Left Foot," but it is important to note how much life, joy and humor he brings to the role with little more than a cocked eyebrow, a few facial muscles and his eyes...
2. A strongly acted, handsomely crafted film that nonetheless feels bland and unsatisfying.
3. Redmayne and Jones are beautifully compatible as Hawking and his then-wife Jane as they navigate the ebb and flow of 25 years of their relationship.
4. This is sheer poppycock, of course, but it makes for fine drama, and that's all Cupid and Oscar care about.
5. The Theory Of Everything surpasses the standard biopic to become an unexpected and moving love story between Stephen and Jane Hawking. The acting is superb in this winning film.
6. On one side is Mr. Redmayne's remarkable presence. On the other is Ms. Jones, whose lovely freshness and calm intelligence complement everything her co-star does.
7. Stephen Hawking, a genius challenged by a progressive neurological disease, is a role that demands miracles of an actor. And Eddie Redmayne, in a landmark performance, delivers them.
8. The Theory Of Everything is a modest film, a simple film, but an honest and impressively-restrained one, and it should serve to launch Redmayne into rarefied air as an actor, deservedly so.
9. Marsh takes a complicated persona and reveals a range of dimensions. The result is an engaging biopic that is often quite moving.
10. It's disappointing to see Hawking's life slotted into the conventions of the biopic genre, from a meet-cute at a Cambridge party to a centerstage ovation for our genius hero.


Critic consensus:The symbolism in this cinematic metaphor on conflicts in the Middle East becomes so overbearing that it's hard to care about the characters or their plight.

Numbered reviews:1. A rambling road movie with noble intentions and an excess of speechifying.
2. The elder actresses simmer as they warily interact, but the dialogue is more schematic than dramatic...
3. The milieu he chooses -- essentially one long, queerly prosaic car ride to nowhere -- robs the film of much of its dramatic force.
4. Portman and the audience are stranded in the middle, on the outside looking in, with nothing to do and patience increasingly wearing thin.
5. There's an art to ambiguity -- there really is... Left to their own devices, viewers will fill in the blanks, but when the movie starts filling them in itself, you have to wonder about the mismatch.
6. While Portman does outshine everyone and everything on screen and though she certainly gets credit for making the résumé sacrifice in the spirit of embracing her heritage, Free Zone does nothing for her in return
7. Without much effort you can imagine the corkboard littered with index cards mapping out the political clashes this cast is asked to act out in their robotic interactions.
8. Much of it is labored and overemphatic.
9. An exceptional new film.
10. A minor movie on a major subject, a drama with an almost unbearable lightness.


Critic consensus:The Business of Strangers showcases a complex, compelling performance by Channing. Her interactions and clashes with Stiles make for riveting viewing.

Numbered reviews:
1. Terrific piss-and-merlot performances of Channing and Stiles.
2. It is involving less because of the sexual winkery and neo-Mamet dialogue, but because Channing and Stiles are expert at verbal drilling and insinuation.
3. Crisp and provocative, and no small amount of its pleasure derives from Channing's dazzling performance.
4. A highly charged drama that contains some incisive insights about working women, the corporate world, power, and sexual politics.
5. Very darkly funny, commenting on the corporate world in ways that seem fresh and original.
6. A showcase for three diamond-solid actors.
7. Written and directed by Patrick Stettner, it's a movie full of fascinating details and frustrating moments in which the meticulously drawn characters behave in ways that seem dictated by Stettner's plot rather than by their own personalities.
8. Stettner's vision of both women lacks fullness, relying on stereotypes of feminine strength and vulnerability.
9. Patrick Stettner's female workplace drama has nowhere to go but down once its cards have been thrown down on the table
10. [A] critique of embittered p.c. extremism...but Stettner can't restrain his yuppie-clan feminists from descending into misogynous caricatures.