Woody Allen movies do not exist in a vacuum.
There are so many of them that I found myself rifling through my mental Rolodex of his quirks, trademarks and themes while watching “Irrational Man,” his approximately 51st as a writer director.
Reference to the meaninglessness of existence? Check.
Older man-younger woman? Check.
Dilemma involving a betrayal or crime? Check.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not begrudge his tapping the same themes here as he did in “Match Point” and “Cassandra’s Dream” all of which are loose re-workings of his morally dense masterpiece “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Allen keeps these themes fresh by casting new, younger performers in them. His muses were once Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow. In “Match Point,” “Scoop” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” it was Scarlett Johansson.
“Irrational Man” is his second consecutive collaboration with Emma Stone following the more whimsical “Magic in the Moonlight.”
But this is Joaquin Phoenix’s first Allen outing.
He plays a philosophy professor for whom life has no joy. He is so depressed he cannot enjoy sex with the women who through themselves at him, like colleague Parker Posey. But when he becomes aware of an injustice and decides to right a wrong by committing a perfect crime he becomes downright jaunty.
Stone is the young student infatuated with him who gets caught up in his mood swings and his crime.
This is the fourth film shot by “Midnight in Paris” cinematographer Darius Khondji, who has a clean and simple aesthetic. But there is nothing elegant about the pratfall of a resolution and some might find Phoenix’s moping grating.
But anyone who grew on Allen’s films should find it in their wheelhouse. I did.
Hollywood remakes films all the time. So why can’t Woody Allen?
*** Three stars
With Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey, Betsy Aidem, Ethan Phillips, Jamie Balckley, Tom Kemp. Rated R: language, sexual content. Approximate running time 96 minutes
Tags: Irrational Man, Woody Allen Posted by