Irrational Man (2015) * * *

Directed by:  Woody Allen

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

Abe Lucas (Phoenix) does not rank highly in the annals of memorable Woody Allen characters.    He is an alcoholic, impotent philosophy professor who begins teaching at a small Rhode Island college.    He is content to be alone and miserable, until his soul is reawakened not only by an affair with a student (Stone), but with a desire to murder a corrupt judge with whom he has no connection.    He overhears a conversation in a diner in which a woman sobs because this connected judge will take her kids from her in custody hearing.    Abe decides then to tip the scales in her favor by killing the judge.

In Allen films like Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point, the amoral protagonists attempt to pull off "the perfect murder" only to find themselves in moral or situational quandaries after the deed is completed.     Abe has no moral qualms to be sure, but somehow it starts to unravel for him anyway.

Before Abe has his eureka moment in which he determines that murdering this judge will bring his soul back from the brink, Irrational Man was a plodding film trying to fight its way out of the quicksand.     Kind of like Abe himself.     His reputation of being brilliant and tragic quickly spreads around the campus before he even arrives.     Jill, the aforementioned student, develops a crush on him before meeting him and continues it once they do meet.     Abe, however, is a bore and maybe even a bore to himself.     He halfheartedly recites philosophy quotes as part of his everyday conversation in between gulps of scotch.    He has a bulging belly which made me wonder aloud when his baby is due.     A fellow teacher named Rita (Posey) also likes him and is willing to divorce her husband to be with him.     Why?    What is it about Abe that attracts these women?     Are they broken too?    Or did Jill have to like Abe because the script told her to?   One of the detractions of the film is the fact that Abe is a zero and no one else seems to notice that 

Yet, why do I recommend the movie?    Because the idea of seeing someone plot, execute, and then try to get away a perfect murder remains a tried, but true plot device.     We become co-conspirators in a way.    We can not look away, even though we know Abe is morally repugnant no matter what his justification.     However, he truly becomes happy for the first time in a long time.    Perhaps it is just a relief not to have him spewing out lines from philosophizers about morality.    We can not deny that we are interested to see if he can get away with it.  

Phoenix is saddled with quite a load with Abe Lucas.    To his credit, he is able to find some sort of character in Abe.     The camera loves Emma Stone.    She is the picture of intelligence but is naïvely and idealistically attracted to Abe.    She falls for his act hook, line, and sinker.    Her doe-eyed expressions make us want her to get away from Abe as quickly as possible.     We can even forgive her for dumping her perfectly loving, doting boyfriend, mostly because we like her so much and because she is a doll like, well, Emma Stone.

Is Irrational Man one of Allen's great works?    No.   But it turns into a worthwhile view of a similar Allen theme, which is how someone thinks he can get away with the perfect murder and worse yet justify it.