The scientist-as-superhero movie genre is more than well-established by now and having seen A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, I will readily admit it is something of a guilty pleasure of mine. That being said, the narrative of all these movies is basically the same, and The Man Who Knew Infinity doesn't rise above its genre or add anything new at any point. It fails to surprise, to bring wonder to the viewer or to inspire deep thoughts about the scientific subject. In the aforementioned movies, the main characters all struggle with a variety of challenges they have to overcome, and which ultimately grow into more important story lines than their scientific efforts themselves. The reason for that is probably that it's difficult to bring the story of the impact of theoretical science to a visual medium. I thought that A Beautiful Mind was ultimately most successful in visualizing the scientific impact of what the mathematician John Nash came up with. The Man Who Knew Infinity doesn't have a similarly powerful (but admittedly crude) metaphor as a Beautiful Mind does and therefore fails to bridge the gap between Ramanujan's work and the average (lay man) viewer. The result is an average movie about an exceptional man. It's fine if you're looking for a feel-good story in a somewhat-more-intelligent wrapper than your average rom-com or comic-book superhero movie, but don't expect anything particularly impressive.
One afterthought: the reference made to Newton inventing gravity is a very basic but unforgivable faux-pas. Newton discovered gravity but he never invented it. After all, one cannot invent something that is already in existence. For a movie with a science theme that is a painful mistake, especially given the fact that several mathematicians were involved as consultants. Knowing the difference between invention and discovery is what they teach you in introduction epistemology. Since having a decent idea of how knowledge is gathered and how the scientific process works is a must for any self-respecting scientist, I cannot help but wonder who the movie's scientist-consultants were.
One afterthought: the reference made to Newton inventing gravity is a very basic but unforgivable faux-pas. Newton discovered gravity but he never invented it. After all, one cannot invent something that is already in existence. For a movie with a science theme that is a painful mistake, especially given the fact that several mathematicians were involved as consultants. Knowing the difference between invention and discovery is what they teach you in introduction epistemology. Since having a decent idea of how knowledge is gathered and how the scientific process works is a must for any self-respecting scientist, I cannot help but wonder who the movie's scientist-consultants were.