A troubled philosophy professor begins teaching at a small town college, but struggles to find any meaning in his life. He finds some measure of happiness in his friendship with a student, and when they overhear a stranger's conversation, it spurs the tortured academic on to a course of action that changes everything. Woody Allen's drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Parker Posey
Woody Allen's films not only split into one of two genres these days - funny or not funny - they've also begun to repeat the tropes and themes of earlier, more successful efforts. Irrational Man is, depending on how you're counting, his 46th film, and reiterates many of the plot points of 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanours and 2005's Match Point, and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Abe, a hard-drinking, womanising, angst-ridden philosophy professor who plots the perfect, random murder in a bid to give his directionless life some meaning. Phoenix is physical and terrific as the hedonistic academic in a part that few could carry off without lapsing into parody, while Emma Stone shows once again that she has the chops for something with more bite than romantic comedy. The problem, however, is another clunky, wooden script, which insists on posing po-faced A-level philosophy conundrums when we'd really like to see a lot more of the former indie queen Parker Posey as Abe's lonely, flirtatious neighbour.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Abe | Joaquin Phoenix |
| Jill | Emma Stone |
| Rita | Parker Posey |
| Roy | Jamie Blackley |
| Jill's mother | Betsy Aidem |
| Jill's father | Ethan Phillips |
| April | Sophie von Hasselberg |
| Paul | Robert Petkoff |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
