Irrational Man 2015

    There is a lot of buzz going around Braylin College, a small town campus near Newport, Rhode Island.  Abe Lucas has signed on as a new philosophy professor.  His reputation as a womanizer and an alcoholic precede his arrival.  What they don’t know about him is that he is frozen as an author and disillusioned as an idealist because he is not able to anything change in the world.  As a teacher, he’s just going through the motions.  He keeps a flask with single malt whiskey at his side at all times.  He begins an affair with Rita, another professor.  He also has an attraction to one of his students, Jill Pollard.  Abe and Jill overhear a woman’s conversation at a diner and this begins to stir Abe’s muddied mind.

     This is so Woody Allen!!  It’s always a lot of conversation about relationships and choices.  In this case, Abe is doing both Rita and Jill a tremendous disfavor by becoming a presence in their lives.  This is a bullet they needed to quickly dodge!! There are a lot of rumor has it stories about Abe’s life that are offered to explain why he is the type person he is.  I thought every story never happened and Abe probably made them up?  There is nothing deep in this film and nothing outside of the Allen norm.  Just entertaining and I could see the outcomes way before they occurred!!  3* (This movie is OK)

95 min, Crime directed by Woody Allen with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Pasey, Joe Stapleton, Nancy Carroll, Allison Gallerani, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Katelyn Semer, Betsy Aidem Ethan Phillips. 

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 44% critic 46% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 117 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Newport, Portsmouth, Cranston, Jamestown, Richmond, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  Allen always keeps a notepad beside his bed.   If he thinks of something for a screenplay, he jots it down.  He also writes down ideas on scraps of paper.  I could see him thinking this up and writing it down.  Emma Stone must be his current muse?  Joaquin Phoenix has a belly and he gained 33 pounds for this role because this is how he envisioned the character.