Irrational Man (2015)

What does it mean to be alive? What is the difference between being alive and really living? And once you've answered those questions, take a shot at these: What does it mean to be moral? What is the relationship between morality and rationality? If you find these questions intriguing, you'll likely enjoy "Irrational Man" (R, 1:35). Oh, and liking Woody Allen, Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone would help.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Abe Lucas, a philosophy professor who has signed on to teach a summer course at a small-town college. And why not? He has nothing better to do. Abe is adrift – physically, spiritually, intellectually, and just about any other "-ally" you can think of. He's bored with himself and bored with life, but he keeps pushing forward, because that's what people do. The existential philosophy that he discusses with his students seems to give him a bit of a spark, but also seems to be extinguishing it in him at the same time. He has overanalyzed life to the point that it has lost all its meaning.

You might think that such a personality would send people trying to get as far away from this guy as possible, but you'd be wrong. Abe's students appear engaged by his class discussions and some of the women on campus (well, two of them anyway) seem to want nothing more than to be around him as much as possible. A fellow professor, Rita Richards (Parker Posey), is one of them and Jill Pollard (Emma Stone), one of Abe's students, is the other. Rita is married and Jill has a boyfriend (Jamie Blackley). Rita says she would be willing to leave her husband and run off with Abe, while Jill stubbornly insists that her relationship with Abe is purely platonic, but she can't help but be attracted to her brooding professor.

Eventually something changes in Abe. Something existential in nature. While talking together in a diner, Jill and Abe overhear a conversation that gives Abe an idea. The professor who says he values life lessons above all other kinds, decides to take positive action and probably change someone's life for the better. This person he'd be helping is a stranger to him and this action he decides upon is highly illegal, but just the thought of it awakens Abe, as if from a long sleep. His life now has a purpose. He's completely energized by the thought of actually doing something meaningful instead of just talking about meaning in class. Small town philosophy professor Abe Lucas sets his mind to planning and carrying out "the perfect crime", something that he is able to rationalize, but could only be seen by other people as the action of a completely irrational man.

This is not your typical Woody Allen film. The writer-director's style has evolved over his long career and he has tackled a wider variety of subjects with a greater variance in tone over the past decade or two. While Abe, Rita, Jill and Jill's boyfriend carry in their DNA the typical Woody Allen quirkiness and their conversations are as clever and ironic as in most of Allen's films, there's much more going on in the film than people talking. After all the philosophical conversations and the will-they-or-won't-they tension in Abe's two most significant relationships, the movie suddenly changes direction, but still maintains a strong narrative thread and remains true to its characters. As the plot becomes almost surreal, audience members may find themselves as unsure about what to think as the characters are about what to do.

"Irrational Man" features a typically strong Woody Allen script with typically interesting performances from his actors. Allen has a long-standing reputation for getting the very best from his cast, especially his female cast members and this film is no exception. Phoenix does his usually outstanding work (maybe his best since "Walk the Line"), Posey and the relatively unknown Blakely are very strong, but it's Stone who shines brightest. She gets the kind of scenes and does the kind of job that gets award nominations. Allen deserves the same consideration for his script. Anything less would be irrational, as would anything but a positive review from me. "A-"