Irrational Man

 IRRATIONAL MAN

Director : Woody Allen

Year : 2015

Genre : Drama

Rating : ****1/2

 

While Woody Allen may have explored the themes of death and the iniquity of murder in numerous movies before, 'Irrational Man' still manages to be a wonderfully wry and extremely watchable film thanks to the performances from it's universally brilliant cast and of course, Allen's distinctive and completely idiosyncratic  writing style. In 'Irrational Man', Joaquin Phoenix stars as a self-destructive philosophy professor who, after falling in love with one of his students (the always wonderful Emma Stone), makes the brash decision to kill in attempt to take an existential control of his life. As is expected with any Woody Allen production, 'Irrational Man' continually vibrates with an infectious air of good-will and while it may be re-treading the ideas and themes of 'Match Point' or most significantly 'Love & Death', 'Irrational Man' still manages to keep it's head above the water thanks to the chemistry between it's brilliant central cast and the brilliantly witty screenplay that never fails to entertain and delight. Woody Allen may now be an octogenarian but he has the writing and directorial verve of someone half his age and while 'Irrational Man' may indeed recycle certain ideologies from his back catalogue, it still manages to feel as fresh, as funny and as buoyant as the best of his iconic filmography.