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IMDbPro

Irrational Man

  • 20152015
  • RR
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
64K
YOUR RATING
Joaquin Phoenix in Irrational Man (2015)
A tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act.
Play trailer2:03
3 Videos
92 Photos
ComedyCrimeDrama
A tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act.A tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act.A tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act.
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
64K
YOUR RATING
    • Woody Allen
    • Woody Allen
  • Stars
    • Joaquin Phoenix
    • Emma Stone
    • Parker Posey
    • Woody Allen
    • Woody Allen
  • Stars
    • Joaquin Phoenix
    • Emma Stone
    • Parker Posey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 174User reviews
    • 288Critic reviews
    • 53Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos3

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:03
    Watch Official Trailer
    Youre Paranoid
    Clip 0:52
    Watch Youre Paranoid
    A Muse
    Clip 1:12
    Watch A Muse

    Photos92

    Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix, Nancy Giles, and Paula Plum in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix in Irrational Man (2015)
    Woody Allen, Joaquin Phoenix, and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Parker Posey and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Parker Posey and Joaquin Phoenix in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone in Irrational Man (2015)
    Joaquin Phoenix and Geoff Schuppert in Irrational Man (2015)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Joaquin Phoenix
    Joaquin Phoenix
    • Abe Lucas
    Emma Stone
    Emma Stone
    • Jill Pollard
    Parker Posey
    Parker Posey
    • Rita Richards
    Joe Stapleton
    Joe Stapleton
    • Professor
    Nancy Carroll
    • Professor
    Allison Gallerani
    • Braylin Student
    Brigette Lundy-Paine
    Brigette Lundy-Paine
    • Braylin Student
    Katelyn Semer
    • Braylin Student
    Betsy Aidem
    Betsy Aidem
    • Jill's Mother
    Ethan Phillips
    Ethan Phillips
    • Jill's Father
    Jamie Blackley
    Jamie Blackley
    • Roy
    Leah Anderson
    • Student Giving Directions
    Paula Plum
    Paula Plum
    • College President
    Nancy Giles
    • President's Assistant
    Henry Stram
    • Cocktail Party Guest
    Geoff Schuppert
    Geoff Schuppert
    • Cocktail Party Guest
    Robert Petkoff
    • Paul Richards
    Alex Dunn
    • Student in Classroom
      • Woody Allen
      • Woody Allen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Joaquin Phoenix gained 33 pounds for the role.
    • Goofs
      In piano recitals using a grand piano, the piano is placed with the soundboard open towards the audience and the performer on the audience's left, so the music is amplified and directed to the audience. In Jill's recital, the soundboard is open but facing away from the audience and Jill is on the audience's right.
    • Quotes

      Abe: Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

    • Connections
      Featured in Flat Earth & Revelation 10: Reach the Oxygen (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      The 'In' Crowd
      Composed by Billy Page

      Performed by Ramsey Lewis Trio

      Courtesy of The Verve Music Group

      Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

    User reviews174

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Woody doing Philosophy Noir rounds out a trilogy - underrated though flawed
    Sometimes a guy can't catch a break, and it may be for good reason. With Woody Allen and the critics of Irrational Man, one may think there's a rational reason, no clever spin intended. Here's a man who is spectacular at what he does, but he doesn't have the most immense range of the American iconoclast-auteurs - by this point, after writing films for 50 years and directing for over 45, critics and most audiences get the gist of what the man works with: some occasional fantasy, light-hearted comedy, serious, brooding drama, romance, mystery, magic, existentialism and the separation of reality and fantasy. But for myself, I went into this trying to take it just on its own terms: does it work as its own story, as to what it's trying to do, with or without the author's baggage? I think it does, often quite well, and it makes a sort of cap to an unexpected, thematic trilogy of movies, which I'll get to in a moment.

    In Irrational Man it starts out like what seems to be a story of a philosophy professor (Phoenix) caught in despair, while an eager, bright student (Stone) starts to fancy him. He's blocked, he can't seem to write (or "sleep with" Parker Posey's character early on), and he drinks fairly heavily (Phoenix adds a pot belly to the mix). But its main turning point turns it into what is a Hitchcockian tale of murder and deception, all due to eavesdropping on the sad tale of a cruel judge presiding over a custody case. It turns this professor's life around, albeit with a rather dark twist.

    By Hitchcockian it's easy to throw that label around, but this is a filmmaker who has previously used a scene from Shadow of a Doubt (I forget which movie, but I remember characters watching it in one of his films), and now has some elements taken from it. Hey, how about a discussion in a very lively, satirical manner about the best way to go about a murder? Or what if it's a complete stranger with a poison of some kind? At the same time Allen throws in Emma Stone, once again after 'Moonlight' but here now modern and always great to look at as a star on screen with full-on talent and energy to burn with her co-star. Phoenix, meanwhile, gets a lot of this man's despair, and then his odd joy too - though Phoenix may not seem like the most spot-on actor to show 'energy' in the later half of the film, he is still completely there for what this character requires.

    What I liked about Irrational Man, even with some of its familiarity in the Allen world - professor with a younger student romantically, questions of morality, what it means when PURE luck really defines what happens for people - is that it was genuine about how its characters saw and changed with their views on the world, and that on its own you get wrapped up in the question of "Will he really get away with this?" To be sure, this question was asked with greater intellectual rigor in Crimes & Misdemeanors, and Match Point had an even tougher, bleaker view of what it means for people to get ahead in the world no matter who stands in heir way. But all three of these movies seem to make up a trilogy - maybe we can call it his 'Dostoyevsky' series - with this one being what I should think is the capper of them. Now it's not an older businessman or a young upstart, but someone who has spent his life trying to figure out what it means to live a meaningful life in theory vs practice.

    It may be the literalness of this comparison that will throw off some viewers. That and/or the narration. I have to say that is the one thing I'm really unsure of after seeing it for the first time; on the one hand it works with the realm of film noir, as in here are characters who are constantly plotting or trying to think their way through some sort of emotional or moral logic (and the moment where the plot really kicks off, it seems hard for me to figure how it could be done without voice-over), but on the other there are moments where it is too much, that a moment could work without the character's direction. On the other hand again, it's an existential comedy that takes itself very seriously, or a semi-romantic and dramatic love story that has some light touches (and that ending!) Irrational Man isn't great, but it's very good, exceeding any expectations I could've had, in large part thanks to a cast and, by the way, some really skillful and beautiful direction on the whole (and the warm cinematography, all shot in Newport, Rhode Island). I'll be curious if this gets re-evaluated in 10-15 years.
    helpful•72
    22
    • Quinoa1984
    • Jul 28, 2015

    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 7, 2015 (United States)
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (France)
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Rhode Island, USA
    • Production companies
      • Gravier Productions
      • Perdido Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 35 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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