Irrational Man (2015)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Woody Allen exchanged his trademark jazz opening to a quote from one of my favorite philosophers for his title credit sequence. "Kant said human reason is troubled by questions it cannot dismiss, but also cannot answer." spoke Joaquin Phoenix while driving. Woody Allen's 2015 film, Irrational Man, brought the writer/director back to America, but not back to New York. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, Irrational Man follows a philosophy professor who determines that the only way to give his life meaning is to take a decisive action, despite the moral consequences. Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) is the newest addition to the philosophy department of a small town campus in Rhode Island. Abe, who once was an idealist and is now certain of his inability to change the world, has a reputation that precedes him. Most of the student and the faculty have heard a whole host of rumors before they ever even see Abe. Once he arrives, any remaining delusions of grandeur unceremoniously disappear. Quickly revealing himself as an alcoholic, even carrying a flask around with him on campus, it is clear Abe lives his life with a deflated ego and an extreme case of nihilism. His many quibbles with the world and his profession keep Abe from being an effective professor, or an acceptable romantic partner. Despite his many downfalls and ego issues, Abe becomes the object of desire for one of his students, Jill Pollard (Emma Stone). Jill is filled with life; she is a good student, a devoted daughter, and a loyal girlfriend until she meets Abe. A standout writer, Jill focuses her talents on her philosophy coursework, captivated by the person teaching as much as what's being taught. Jill can't help herself from falling in love with Abe, leading her to spend as much time with him as she can. Their trysts lead them to a cafe wherein they hear the conversation of a distraught woman sharing her feelings of despair over a judge she perceives as treating her unfairly. Suddenly, Abe secretly decides that the only way to give his life meaning is to end the life of another.Much like Match Point, Irrational Man didn't "feel" as much like a Woody Allen film as I am used to. The problem is, that this film also didn't work as well as Match Point pulled off its "non-Woody feel". There are a lot of problems with Irrational Man, many I suppose must be forgiven by the title. The conversation that acts as the turning point for Abe is a weak plot device. There's no way we can discern if the woman is reliable or if her perception of the events are true, it seems unlikely from all we know about Abe that he would derive pleasure from bringing a stranger happiness, either. The film painstakingly paints Abe as a man that can't commit to those he wishes he could, yet I am supposed to believe that he's willing to invest interest in a complete stranger, then, risk his life for her? The setup was problematic, and it was a bit more problematic for me to believe that a person Woody Allen wants me to know is horrible has two women wishing to romance him. I've mentioned before, this period where Woody seems preoccupied with getting away with murder just doesn't do it for me. The film isn't without its strengths; the Russian roulette scene was fantastic, and the ending was incredible, maybe more so because I don't expect such powerful endings from Woody Allen. This was the final late-period Woody Allen film I had left to see and I hope beyond hope that he's done with this murder plot he's been after the last few films.

Woody, once again, seems to be in a comfort area, which we are all tired of. We have seen, with this time, three times the same movie. At the end, the only reflection one can make is that he is making of himself a cliché, from every point of view. I will disagree to call this sequences a Trilogy or something similar, but a creative stagnation. With Match Point we watch a dramatic and delicate movie that evokes directly Dostoievski's Crime and Punishment, being a bit dangerous since Dostoievski is an overused topic to make things look more obscure and deeper. We had a second experience on screen about the same topic with Cassandraá Dream, without any additional or richer analytical purpose. The fresh air came with a comedy that focuses on the good side of the story, not anymore on the disturbed mind. Still, everything started to be boring since then. Now, we had with Irrational Man, a very good cast on screen, however any new inflection. He is becoming in a suffocating agent. I have to admit that Blue Jasmin and You Will Meet a Talk Dark Stranger were enjoyable since empathy attacks immediately the audience with this pathetic, bizarre and intimate protagonist. That could be an interesting narrative line to follow for Allen, so we still could believe that his sense of humor is accurate and binding, without dropping himself into this "philosophical lucubrations".

Maybe the lesson is that you can't make one movie per year and expect them to be all top notch. Although some will be brilliant, many will flunk, and some others will be massive failures, it's pure statistics. Unfortunately, this one sits strongly in the latter category. Even when he is not at the top of his game, Woody Allen manages to make movies that are entertaining, passable or at least watchable. Not this one. After 95 minutes of the first bars of "The In Crowd" repeated endlessly, it is a relief to get to the end titles. Many other reviewers have already pointed out the paper thin, miscast characters, the non-existent script or the laughable cop-out ending. But it gets worse, this movie fails even at technical aspects, which has usually been one of Woody Allen's strong suits. Awfully lit, badly framed scenes and appalling photography contribute to make this a very sad and painful cinematic experience.One can't fail to notice how Woody's stories have evolved over the course of his directing career from being set in working class Brooklyn to the ultra-rich one percenters in The Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard. Not that there's anything wrong with that, in fact, that is probably the trajectory that Woody Allen's life itself has followed. The problem is that while his previous characters were usually quite likable quirky simpletons or neurotic intellectuals, they have now become unbearably spoiled, cartoonish, vacuous and pretentious ivy leaguers. Who can possibly like, or even feel the slightest interest for such despicable people? I would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with their affluent lifestyle; you can make strong, interesting characters out of billionaires. The Great Gatsby being a case in point. Will still watch a Woody Allen movie over a blockbuster any day, and I hope he continues making them for many years. But Irrational Man was a terrible misfire which does him no honor - skip it and you will be missing nothing.

OK, I get where the negative reviewers are coming from--the plot seemed formulaic at times. That being said, Allen executes it well and manages to make it seem fresh. I was taken completely by surprise by much of the film. I love Joaquin Phoenix, even more-so after this movie. Wow.Also, as someone who enjoys literature and philosophy, the quotes thrown into the script were great; one of my favorites was "in order to really see the world, we must break with our familiar acceptance of it". This made me pause the movie and look up the quote's author (Merleau-Ponty), and any movie that makes you think and learn new things like that is surely worthwhile.Give it a chance. I almost didn't watch it, but am sure glad I did.Honestly, one of my new favorite movies.