Joaquin Phoenix stars in Woody Allen’s dark comedy-drama as philosophy professor Abe Lucas, caught in the midst of a grim existential crisis. Emma Stone co-leads the film as a bright student who takes a fascination to Abe, resulting in a unique relationship will change their whole perspectives of life… not necessarily in a good way.
Abe has a healthy reputation as a professor of philosophy, but not exactly a healthy outlook on life. He’s been welcomed by a small town university with open arms and invited back to the bedroom by his former flame (Parker Posey), though this does not steer him away from his own dark thoughts – ones he constantly drowns with alcohol. But when his student provides him with a golden reason to live, albeit by accident, Abe suddenly finds a profound purpose. And that’s when things really start to go wrong.
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46%205 reviews
Woody Allen takes a heap of existential woes and swirls them around like a single-malt in this black rom-com, using the mind of morbid philosophy professor Abe Lucas as the whiskey glass. It’s a mentality-exposing role that demands excellence, and where Blue Jasmine had the flawless Cate Blanchett, Irrational Man has the dynamic Joaquin Phoenix.
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Woody Allen contemplates the perfect murder (again) in a darkly funny, intellectually rigorous campus comedy.
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There’s something sloppy and sluggish about Irrational Man, even by Allen’s uneven standards.
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Allen has worked wonders in the past with superficially similar moral tales, but this one’s a sketchy rehash.
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It's a tongue-in-cheek mystery which is neither quite scary and serious enough to be suspenseful, nor witty or ironic enough to count as a comedy.
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After the delightful, if frothy Magic in the Moonlight, Irrational Man feels like a step down for the prolific Woody Allen.
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Allen has crafted a suspenseful mind-teaser that might feel too much like an intellectual exercise if Phoenix and Stone didn't infuse it with such raw humanity.
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Can be seen as one of Allen's cleverest films, but even the satisfying tidiness of its ending contributes to the sense that we're watching a simulation rather than a story.
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Stands among the better entries of Woody Allen's fourth-act career phase.
Full reviewIrrational Man is available to stream in New Zealand now on Apple TV and TVNZ+.
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