Woody does such great stuff to horrid...this is horrid...i started it and realized i've seen it...Like Clerks and other 'writers' films i just watch 'puppets' mouth Woody's words as he is still struggling to 'understand it all' and 'try to figure it out'...Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Match Point are great flicks...'Match Point' answers the questions put forth in this film or does a better job of creating the right questions...the entire show can be summed up with the professor's statement 'philosophy is verbal masturbation'...i think Woody may have put a stop to actual masturbation for awhile and replaced it with the words in this show to stick in actors mouths...Norman Mailer was asked about masturbation and said he doesn't masturbate because 'it all goes up in the hand'...writing is masturbation...the trick is to disguise the ego so the words look like they could be said in 'real life'...there is nothing real about this...i've walked campuses with many a professor and no good professor or student has such corny tones of voice like these actors do...they sleep walk through this...and the entire flick was mis-cast with the start of Phoenix being a terrible choice...words words words all amounting to psychobabble jabberwocky. the show is not worth watching

It's obvious five minutes into 'Irrational Man' that it has that 'Woody Allen feel', not surprising since he both wrote the screenplay for and directed this 2015 film. Ironically, having an actor similar to Woody Allen was what was needed to make this movie go from just passable to really great ~ perhaps someone like the quirky Owen Wilson playing the lead role of Abe Lucas instead of Joaquin Phoenix. Quite frankly, nobody does fractured characters better than the great Woody Allen, but it would have been incredibly creepy seeing him have a sexual relationship on screen now at the age of 80.As well, I think Wilson would have played opposite college student Jillian "Jill" Pollard (Emma Stone) much better than Phoenix did. I never sensed any real chemistry between the two ~ just Stone trying desperately to carry all of their awkward scenes together. As the plot grew increasingly dark, it needed someone with Woody Allen's brilliant timing and inflections to make the scenes jump off the screen, and not the mundane offerings of the non-dimensional Phoenix.All in all, 'Irrational Man' was not great, but not terrible either. It's a pity that Allen was too old to be both behind the cameras AND in front of them for this somewhat forgettable flick. 6* out of 10.

The plot is highly relatable to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" and "Rope". I hope that you can get the references, for it's funny once you realize that.Of course, it comes with the already expected woodyallenien soundtrack, background philosophy theories and, as if there could be a Woody Allen's without it, charm. It's ironic and morally intriguing. The great thinkers's thoughts laid all through the film are a nice presence.It's worth your time to watch, but don't expect much. It's not one of the director's gems.

OK, I get where the negative reviewers are coming from--the plot seemed formulaic at times. That being said, Allen executes it well and manages to make it seem fresh. I was taken completely by surprise by much of the film. I love Joaquin Phoenix, even more-so after this movie. Wow.Also, as someone who enjoys literature and philosophy, the quotes thrown into the script were great; one of my favorites was "in order to really see the world, we must break with our familiar acceptance of it". This made me pause the movie and look up the quote's author (Merleau-Ponty), and any movie that makes you think and learn new things like that is surely worthwhile.Give it a chance. I almost didn't watch it, but am sure glad I did.Honestly, one of my new favorite movies.