Review: Irrational Man

Joaquin Phoenix plays the new cool Philosophy professor on campus, but in reality the guy is an emotional wreck and drinking heavily. He’s pursued by two women, married but unsatisfied colleague Parker Posey, and a student (Emma Stone) who has a boyfriend but can’t help but become infatuated with this tortured soul. He’s ‘deep’ and she ‘gets’ him, you know the type. Things (i.e. an actual plot) pick up when Phoenix and Stone overhear a diner conversation about a custody court case and a frankly sleazy, biased judge. And that’s when Phoenix gets to thinking…about murder. Ethan Phillips plays Posey’s husband.

 

Writer-director Woody Allen (“Annie Hall”, “Manhattan”, “Broadway Danny Rose”, “Blue Jasmine”) doesn’t have one of his better outings with this 2015 murder-themed flick, which at best one can say is a better and more honest variant on “Manhattan Murder Mystery”. And still not terribly good (There’s also elements of “Scoop”, “Match Point”, and “Cassandra’s Dream”, none of which were especially good either). It takes 30 minutes into a 90 minute film for the actual plot to get going, and for me that’s a bit too leisurely paced. The film is just a little too unfocussed and slow for my liking, but the characters certainly aren’t as annoying and pathetic as those in “Manhattan Murder Mystery”.

 

I have to say that I didn’t for a second buy Emma Stone’s naïveté. I get that she’s an awestruck student with the hots for her professor, but through no fault of Stone herself, I didn’t buy her character, nor was the character even likeable. How does she not know Phoenix killed the guy as soon as she hears about it? They fucking talked about it, for crying out loud. Although he’s playing a Woody substitute that just shows how egotistical Woody actually is, Joaquin Phoenix is well-cast as a guy who thought he was gonna change the world, saw how impossible that was, and seems to have let himself go. He also plays a philosophy teacher who tells his students that most philosophy is bullshit. And he also looks pregnant. Yeah, this guy is troubled. Troubled guys are scarily up Phoenix’s alley and he doesn’t disappoint, the film does. Parker Posey isn’t in the film much, but she’s pitch-perfect casting and really terrific. Emma Stone probably gives her best performance to date, unless I was actually meant to have any sympathy for her character. I don’t think I was supposed to, so I’ll stick with my assessment for now.

 

I think this is a good idea for a film, but writer-director Allen hasn’t found the best way to tell it. Slow-paced, unfocussed and unconvincing, this is another “Match Point”, which from me, isn’t a compliment. The film is good-looking and well-acted (Phoenix is excellent, but not a miracle worker), but I didn’t really buy any of it. Clever ending, though.

 

Rating: C+