Irrational Man

Irrational Man casts Joaquin Phoenix as Abe Lucas, a depressive college professor who discovers a newfound zest for life after deciding to commit a murderous act – with the movie detailing the impact of Abe’s decision on a lovestruck student named Jill (Emma Stone). Filmmaker Woody Allen’s screenplay is chock-a-block with relatively interesting ideas revolving primarily around philosophical concepts and theories, and yet, by that same token, the relentless emphasis on academic conversations grows more and more exhausting as time slowly progresses – with Allen’s reluctance to offer up more than a few kernels of character development exacerbating the movie’s hands-off atmosphere. Phoenix and Stone’s top-notch work helps lift one’s dwindling interest on a sporadic basis, while the aforementioned murderous act ensures that, at the very least, there’s a little momentum contained within the movie’s second half. Given the subject matter, however, Irrational Man suffers from an almost total lack of tension that is, to say the least, surprising (and disappointing) – although it’s worth noting that the movie does improve slightly in its crime-focused final stretch (and that resolution is quite shocking, to be sure). It’s ultimately clear that Irrational Man comes off as the latest misguided endeavor from Allen, which is too bad, of course, given the strength of Phoenix’s typically commanding turn as the conflicted central character.

** out of ****