You know the story. Stephen Hawking, then aged 21 and in the middle of his PhD in theoretical cosmology at the University of Cambridge, was given only years to live. At 72, the wheelchair-bound professor has beaten the odds to scale the pinnacles of scientific excellence whilst bearing the weight of a terrible disease. What can the latest documentary on our most famous living scientist reveal that we don’t already know?

Director Stephen Finnegan is clear about the goal of the documentary. "I hope people are inspired," he says ahead of the gala screening at Picturehouse Cambridge, at which Hawking and his family were present. Finnegan makes it clear that he wants to depict the side of Hawking’s life that is “family man, dad, funny man” as opposed to the public face we know so well.

Hawking’s life certainly has all the features of a classic Hollywood script and this film attempts to capture it all. Through a mixture of talking heads, archive footage and short reconstructions we follow the onset of his disease, the success of his science and the difficulties of his day-to-day living. Because of this, sadly, the film fails to uncover much beyond the superficial. There are clearly fascinating stories waiting to be told; the breakdown of Hawking’s first marriage cries out for more attention and the comments of his ex-wife Jane on the difficulties of coping with her increasingly distant relationship with the physicist are amongst the film’s most poignant moments. Rather than exploring this further, we get Jim Carrey laughing about the time that Hawking helped him out for a sketch on a chat show and Richard Branson talking about the Virgin space programme.

These interviews are symptomatic of a broader trend running through the film. Hawking is obviously famous and we gain little from having a parade of celebrity fans tell us why. Attempting to bring a more personal touch to the narrative, Finnegan made the decision to conduct the narration in Hawking’s iconic synthesised voice, with the entire script addressed in the first person. Yet this serves to distance the audience from the man even more. Whilst claiming to reflect the essence of Hawking’s innermost thoughts, the script was adapted and edited by the director, and the exact balance of the collaboration was left unclear even in the Q&A session which followed the launch screening.

It’s possible that in the hands of a director with a touch more flair the visual impact of the film could have rescued the predictable narrative. However the presentation is formulaic. The half-hearted flashback scenes are a poor imitation of those in the excellent BBC drama Hawking. The shots are jerky and inconsistent, with distracting filters thrown in for no apparent reason other than to liven up the endless establishing shots of Cambridge.

We know the legend of Stephen Hawking as a celebrity and scientist. These aspects of his personality are reinforced here and my admiration for him is stronger than ever. This film would be a good place to start on the legend but the wait goes on for those of us who want a deeper insight into one of the most fascinating life stories of modern times.