Infinity

Rating:
Summary: Misses the mark - maybe
Review: Richard Feynman was surely the most interesting physicst in history and one of the most interesting individuals rivaled by very few. His books are brilliant and his ability both at physics (and nearly everything else he did) and teaching are legendary. Unfortunately, none of that is touched upon here. The closest we get is the scene with the cube roots (we also have the scene with Dr. Wheeler, but this shows him getting an incorrect answer). I know that the film was supposed to be a love story, and, in that, it was successful. This was tremendously emotional, and, I believe, true to the stories by Feynman, himself. Unfortunately, many of the stories that establish Feynman at his best are nowhere to be found. We see nothing of his time at school ("Who Took the Door", etc.), which would have been appreciated. This is not simply wishing to see physics and mathematics in a film, but rather to establish Feynman as the fun-loving practical joker and lover of life that he was. Broderick did a fine job portraying him (although I can honestly see Robin Williams playing him later in life), there was very little unique to Feynman. It could have been anyone. There was no mention of Feynman's need to do things his own way, and so forth. So, what I am really saying is that as a stand alone, or for someone who isn't totally in awe of Feynman as I am, this is a good love story. For someone like me, however, there's too much lacking that would have brought Feynman to the public as I think Broderick wanted.

Rating:
Summary: Misses the mark - maybe
Review: Richard Feynman was surely the most interesting physicst in history and one of the most interesting individuals rivaled by very few. His books are brilliant and his ability both at physics (and nearly everything else he did) and teaching are legendary. Unfortunately, none of that is touched upon here. The closest we get is the scene with the cube roots (we also have the scene with Dr. Wheeler, but this shows him getting an incorrect answer). I know that the film was supposed to be a love story, and, in that, it was successful. This was tremendously emotional, and, I believe, true to the stories by Feynman, himself. Unfortunately, many of the stories that establish Feynman at his best are nowhere to be found. We see nothing of his time at school ("Who Took the Door", etc.), which would have been appreciated. This is not simply wishing to see physics and mathematics in a film, but rather to establish Feynman as the fun-loving practical joker and lover of life that he was. Broderick did a fine job portraying him (although I can honestly see Robin Williams playing him later in life), there was very little unique to Feynman. It could have been anyone. There was no mention of Feynman's need to do things his own way, and so forth. So, what I am really saying is that as a stand alone, or for someone who isn't totally in awe of Feynman as I am, this is a good love story. For someone like me, however, there's too much lacking that would have brought Feynman to the public as I think Broderick wanted.

Rating:
Summary: Did not bring out the full personality of Richard Feynman.
Review: This film could have portrayed the "real" Feynman as both a brilliant scientist as well as a caring person in love. The film did not portray Feynman's exuberant personality well nor his brilliance. His relationship with Arline although presented with enough poignant moments in the first half, became a little dragging in the latter half. Feynman's encounters with a constellation of famous physicists in the Manhattan project could have made a very interesting episode in itself, but was totally ignored in this film.