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.
Unlike Jasmine, the film starts with Abe in a manic-depressive hole he dug for himself, a personality trait that proves interesting – and irresistible – to his student Jill (Emma Stone). She’s a blossoming intellectual, but still carries a youthful ignorance that plays into an attraction towards a man she calls “conservative, but in a liberal way.”
There’s a lot of walkin’ n’ talkin’ about the fear of meaninglessness, the triumph of love and pleasure, the banality of evil, and even The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. But make no mistake – this is neither a sickly-sweet romance flick nor a serious philosophical meditation on life. Rather, this is Allen using philosophy as a means of comically exploring the grey areas of morality and madness.
When Jill inadvertently provides Abe with a life-changing epiphany, the movie shifts into a different gear, one that grounds his newfound happiness in unethical territories. Later on, his very sense of peace becomes problematic, along with the joys of being oblivious and irrational. It’s a fantastic character shift that needs a lot of convincing – especially for what transpires – and Phoenix delivers. (But let’s face it; we knew he would.)
Irrational Man is a superb character study to savour. It’s just a pity Allen frequently softens the more tense and dramatic scenarios with an annoyingly persistent, if unsurprising, jazz score.
