To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Allen has surely forgotten how human interaction is meant to work. He pads this film with dialogue that would simply never come out of a human being. The dialogue is so robotic, it's a wonder why he employed actual actors.Not to mention the film has no grounding, happening supposedly over a year but feeling like it takes place over a few days with no signs of characters changing at all.The NEAR CONSTANT referencing of philosophical works is likely meant to sound intelligent, but comes off as pretentious. Ignoring the fact that Emma Stone is a college student who could be no older than 22, she speaks almost entirely in quotes, as if she lacks personality.To make matters worse, the film has a hard time deciding whether or not it wants to be a thriller or the romantic drama we've seen hundreds of times, but done even more poorly.Stone's "Boyfriend" appears in approximately 8 scenes, and in most of those, he serves the sole purpose of telling Emma Stone "shut up about your professor", but we never see anything else about him as a character. He exists solely to prop up a romantic triangle that doesn't need to be there considering Phoenix has one of his own, which is also ridiculous.Ignoring that, women just throw themselves at potbellied Phoenix, when the man has nearly no actual likeable traits. Stone starts the film saying "she could have never guessed he'd have anything wrong with him, based on their intial conversation", which is laughable because in that short scene, all he does is act condescending, and drink publicly.If the movie had stuck to the murder plot, it may have been more interesting but it's only set in motion by exposition robots talking loudly about their problems in a cafe, to move the plot. We don't even see the judge until Phoenix kills him, and at that point, we can't even be sure the judge is that bad of a guy because all we have is Phoenix's word from "things he looked up on his computer". We get it, Allen doesn't understand computers. I realize the point of this is that Phoenix would be unknown to him, but the fact that nobody outside of Stone, Phoneix and Posey have any human emotions detracts from the stakes of the film, which there are actual seemingly none. Posey's character is the most problematic. She starts her introduction MID-CONVERSATION with Phoenix, and THEN introduces herself, which is ridiculous. It serves only the purpose of her being able to show how much of a sad sack Phoenix is, as she almost disappears from the movie as a whole for most of it, not addressing the fact she'd been publicly cheating on her husband or any of that.Aside from all that, possibly the most irrational point I'll make: Stone casually learns of the fact Phoenix might have commited murder from a "friend", which likely means more people know, but that isn't my point. The conversation seems so forced, then they're just like "should we go ride horses", casually, and are able to do so within seconds, and Stone looks like someone killed her grandmother the entire time. I genuinely believe Allen has forgotten how to make human connections or converse with people, because this whole movie seems like some robots talking in philosphy quotes for over an hour.

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 Allens mind is a maze of thought, philosophy, morality, and wisdom. Once upon a time he was able to channel all of that into movies that were a thing of love. Now he merely makes movies of contemplation. A suicidal misanthropic philosophy professor played by Phoenix finds a motive for living by committing a murder which he believes is a service to humanity. He plots to poison a crooked judge after over hearing a story in a diner of a divorced mother who is on the receiving end of his judicial abuse of power. Meanwhile he is dating one of his students (Emma Stone), and eventually he is going to have to spill the beans of his crime.The central morality question that is at the heart of this story is intriguing, but the translation is very poor. The whole film is bogged down by repetitive narration which highlights pretty much exactly what we see on screen as it is being said, over and over again. As far as acting goes, the feeling of investment is lacking. Phoenix does his best to summon his mix of humanity and de humanity and often rises to the occasion. Emma Stone brings straight girl realism but none of the charm or sly that defines her better performances. The ending feels rushed but offers the happiest resolution possible given the circumstances. What the movie really needs is a reason for being. It is too much staring into empty space while listening to over exposition. The movie is an overlong train of thought that gives a detailed explanation of virtually nothing.

It's obvious five minutes into 'Irrational Man' that it has that 'Woody Allen feel', not surprising since he both wrote the screenplay for and directed this 2015 film. Ironically, having an actor similar to Woody Allen was what was needed to make this movie go from just passable to really great ~ perhaps someone like the quirky Owen Wilson playing the lead role of Abe Lucas instead of Joaquin Phoenix. Quite frankly, nobody does fractured characters better than the great Woody Allen, but it would have been incredibly creepy seeing him have a sexual relationship on screen now at the age of 80.As well, I think Wilson would have played opposite college student Jillian "Jill" Pollard (Emma Stone) much better than Phoenix did. I never sensed any real chemistry between the two ~ just Stone trying desperately to carry all of their awkward scenes together. As the plot grew increasingly dark, it needed someone with Woody Allen's brilliant timing and inflections to make the scenes jump off the screen, and not the mundane offerings of the non-dimensional Phoenix.All in all, 'Irrational Man' was not great, but not terrible either. It's a pity that Allen was too old to be both behind the cameras AND in front of them for this somewhat forgettable flick. 6* out of 10.