Irrational Man

Woody Allen light. The slow and predictable building of the relationship between the characters gradually turns into a more interesting and, given the gravity of the topic, endearingly playful philosophizing about the meaning of life, the right to judge and the consequences of one’s actions. The scene where one of the characters’ life is in danger is not suspenseful, but apparently it was not supposed to be. (08/17/2015)

There was a time when I enjoyed Woody Allen's films solely for Woody Allen himself. However, that gradually changed. His affected character stopped entertaining me, and eventually, it really started to grate on my nerves. These days, I can still appreciate some of his movies, but the condition for a positive experience is his absence. This film met that basic requirement, and I quite enjoyed its philosophy of murder. Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone are great actors and deserve an above-average rating without a doubt. / Lesson learned: The perfect crime is like a perpetual motion machine or the elixir of life. (06/09/2022)

With this fresh film, Woody Allen once again charmed me. I really love his philosophizing, which he scatters around in abundance without even asking if anyone still cares. In Irrational Man, however, he managed to almost perfectly blend all those existential thoughts with subtle, unobtrusive humor and then let this explosive mixture detonate in a brilliantly timed battle for life. Since I've already praised the director, I can't overlook Joaquin Phoenix either, for whom the titular role fit like a glove, and he clearly relished it with gusto. (90%) (07/03/2021)

Woody no longer even tries to disguise the fact that the whole story is merely an illustration of a particular intellectual concept and a pretext for philosophical discussion. In order to make his work easier, he alternately articulates his thoughts through two narrators (one of whom speaks to us from who knows where) and an infinite number of “walk and talk”/“sit and deliver” verbal exchanges. Other than the climax, which offers the film’s only funny moment, I’m trying in vain to recall a scene that is based not on what we hear, but on what we see (as beautiful as Khondji’s romantic shots of the setting sun are, they serve the narrative only minimally). The half-baked plot would have perhaps served better for one segment in a story cycle. The plot twists are so predictable (the only surprise lies in the choice of the murder weapon, as it is initially indicated that it could be something else) and, at the same time, implausible in the style of Hitchcock (but without a well-developed narrative structure that would draw us in and draw our attention away from their implausibility), and the plot is pushed forward so lazily that I felt as if I had spent a good three hours in the cinema. After a promising opening scene, the film turns into the tedious mush of an idea that Allen dealt with much better in his earlier films (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point). In addition to its literary nature and very shoddy narrative, The Irrational Man is connected with Allen’s late-period work through the cliché of the irresistible masculine protagonist with whom all of the female characters immediately fall in love – sweet, but absolutely unconvincing (through no fault of the actresses). Despite that, the actors remain the only reason not to experience The Irrational Man in book form (if such a book existed). Woody would do better next time not to waste time with directing and not to torture viewers with a narrative devoid of suspense and surprise, instead putting his thought-provoking scenarios down only on paper. 55% (08/01/2015)

A sensationally cynical anecdote about what can bring back someone’s zest for life. Woody Allen once again played with Dostoevsky's “Crime and Punishment", it worked out great and I hope he counts on Emma Stone for another movie because she is SO cute! Joaquin Phoenix surprised me with the way he took on the role of a retired philosophy professor. I wouldn't have expected him to be the one to believe in such a position. "I have greatly succeeded in my attempt to commit the perfect crime." (10/14/2015)