Film: Irrational Man
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone
Directed by: Woody Allen

Caught between the woman he should love and the one who will be his ruin, a man finds himself discovering the reason for his existence in Woody Allen’s Irrational Man.

Coming off the lukewarm, albeit whimsically nihilistic Magic In The Moonlight, Woody Allen has delivered the latest in his one-a-year film series. It’s neither the highlight of Woody’s later years, nor the low mark on a storied career that has experienced more peaks and valleys than the great Rocky Mountains. It’s a witty, entirely Woody tale of love and self-loathing that takes unexpected and technically unwarranted turns that save the film from spiraling into yet another romcom about age differences and whether or not they mean anything when love is at play. There is a bit of that as well, but at this point in Allen’s career that is about as expected as a reference to Ingmar Bergman, and Irrational Man has both.

Joaquin Phoenix is Abe, an out-of-shape philosophy professor who hasn’t been able to see the upside of anything since his divorce several years prior. He’s starting a new job at a tiny Rhode Island university, and he has a bad boy reputation that seems to have beat him to campus. It doesn’t take long for Abe to catch the eye of not one, but two women. The first is Rita (Parker Posey), a fellow professor who is sexually frustrated by her marriage, and the other is a promising young student named Jill (Emma Stone). Abe finds something he enjoys in both, though what exactly draws him to them remains largely a mystery, and in classic Allen fashion there is plenty of exposition filled with jabs and quips regarding Abe’s interest in women nearly half his age.

Irrational Man entertains the idea of focusing solely on this love triangle for the majority of its first two acts, but things take a surprising turn when Abe overhears a stranger complaining about a tough judge who has basically promised them that they will never see their children again. Abe has no connection to the judge, nor the case being discussed, but for some reason learning about this corrupt official ignites a fire inside Abe’s soul that leads him to decide the only proper course of action is murder. After all, no one will be able to connect him to a case involving people he has never actually met. It’s the perfect crime.

There are elements of Irrational Man that bring to mind other comedic capers from Allen’s catalog, such as Crimes And Misdemeanors or the criminally underrated Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, but overall Woody’s latest creation is something else entirely. Instead of tying everything up in a neat little bow at the end, Allen leaves a lot of the issues plaguing Abe unresolved, which forces the audience to question not only the motivation behind his actions, but also his sanity. Is Abe a man pushed too far by a society that doesn’t allow time for depression and regret, or is he a mad man from frame one who, for whatever reason, somehow manages to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes until it’s far too late? I don’t know that I could tell you if I tried, and I’m not sure Allen could either. It’s open to debate, and that’s what makes Irrational Man linger in the viewer’s mind far longer than other recent features by the storied director.

In a recent interview with NPR, Allen said his biggest downfall as a filmmaker was due to the fact he’s both ‘lazy and an imperfectionist.’ He continued, saying, “Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese will work on the details until midnight and sweat it out, whereas for me, come 6 o’clock, I want to go home, I want to have dinner, I want to watch the ballgame. Filmmaking is not [the] end-all be-all of my existence.” It may be that lack of drive to see things through to the point of perfection that restricts Irrational Man from becoming the modern classic it could have very well been, but as is, the latest feature in Woody Allen’s one-a-year film series is an above average bit of escapism that die-hards will no doubt love and haters will be quick to dismiss. It’s not his worst nor his best, but it’s still better than the vast majority of films being produced in Tinsel Town today.

GRADE: B-

Review written by: James Shotwell Follow @utgjames

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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