Woody Allen film Irrational Man saved by star performances

STILL working as regularly as a Swiss watch, Woody Allen, who turns 80 in December, delivers his annual, whimsical offering with his requisite angst and top-drawer cast.

STILL working as regularly as a Swiss watch, Woody Allen, who turns 80 in December, delivers his annual, whimsical offering with his requisite angst and top-drawer cast.

Here Joaquin Phoenix, pitched as a university professor crippled by writer’s block, plays an anti-hero version of the veteran writer-director.

On campus he has a reputation as a womaniser and boozer, attracting the attentions of a fellow tutor (played by Parker Posey), before a keen student (played by Emma Stone) proves more alluring.

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This familiar set-up is then compounded by a potential murder-mystery subplot involving a corrupt judge who’s come down against a single mother seeking custody against her former partner. 

We’ve seen such darkly comic flourishes from Allen before: In the under-rated Match Point and the superb Crimes And Misdemeanours.

Here, the ideas feel half-baked. There’s plenty of existential crisis dialogue of course: Allen’s evidently no closer to figuring out the meaning of life even as he approaches his ninth decade on Earth.

Great chemistry: Parker Posey and Joaquin Phoenix in the new Woody Allen film.

Parker Posey and Emma Stone in a scene from Irrational Man.

But as with his other weaker outings, of which there have been many in recent decades, there is little of any lasting worth to cling on to.

Phoenix and Stone do, however, display a winning chemistry on screen, with Parker Posey a welcome addition in support. We can only imagine what could have been had Allen’s muse been firmly with him on this.

IRRATIONAL MAN

Released by EntertainmentOne

Star rating 2.5/5

Director Woody Allen

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey, Jamie Blackley

Rating M

Running time 95 minutes

Verdict A fine cast works hard with rather forgettable material

Originally published as Woody Allen film Irrational Man saved by star performances