Irrational Man

Bluray + Digital HD

Release Date: January 12, 2016

Released By: Sony Pictures

Cast: Joaquin Pheonix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey

Run Time:  95 Minutes

Synopsis:

“After arriving to teach at a small town college, Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) gets involved with two women, Rita Richards (Parker Posey), a lonely professor who wants him to rescue her from her unhappy marriage; and Jill Pollard (Emma Stone), his best student, who becomes his closest friend. While Jill loves her boyfriend Roy (Jamie Blackley), she finds Abe’s tortured, artistic personality and exotic past irresistible. Pure chance changes everything when Abe and Jill overhear a stranger’s conversation and when Abe makes a profound choice, he is able to embrace life to the fullest again. But his decision sets off a chain of events that will affect him, Jill and Rita forever.”

My Review:

Irrational Man is based around a character named Abe Lucas, who is played by Joaquin Phoenix. Abe is a college philosophy professor who just moved into town to teach at the local school. Although brilliant, Abe suffers from uncertainty about the meaning of life. He can’t seem to focus on anything, he always seems depressed, and he’s always drinking. Abe winds up meeting two interesting women from the school. One of those women are Rita Richards (Parker Posey), a lonely professor who falls in love with him even though she’s married. The second is Jill Pollard (Emma Stone), a student in Abe’s Philosophy class that also falls in love him even though she’s seeing someone. Both women find Abe interesting and irresistible, and can’t stop pursuing him. As the movie goes on, Abe and Jill become closer, which eventually leads to Jill breaking up with her boyfriend to be with him. While the two are at a diner eating some food, they overhear a conversation coming from the table behind them. They find out that the woman at the next table is going through a custody battle with her husband, over their children. The woman states that she is probably going to lose them because the judge that’s handling the case is being very unfair, and mistreating her. Listening to this conversation really sparks an interest with Abe. Learning that this woman’s life is falling apart really bothers him, and gets him to think of ways that he can help her. He quickly becomes obsessed with this idea, which for some strange reason makes him feel alive again. Once he’s reaches his decision on how to help the stranger, everything changes. His mood is up, he has more energy, and he believes that he’s found the meaning of life again. But what could have made things change so fast? What’s his secret? Without giving anything else away, I’d just like to mention that this movie surprised me. After seeing the trailers, I wasn’t sure if I really had any interest in it aside from the cast. Being that I’m a big fan of Joaquin Phoenix, and an even bigger Emma Stone fan, I had to give it a fair chance. The performances in this movie were top notch. Joaquin Phoenix does a great job portraying his characters different emotional states. You can really feel his personal struggles when he’s down and depressed, and then the opposite when his mood changes towards the middle of the movie. The same goes for Emma Stone with her character. She starts off smitten with Abe in the beginning of the movie, and does a complete 180 by the end. Parker Posey does a good job with her character as well but I wouldn’t really consider her a main character. The movie’s cinematography was beautifully done, and seeing it on Bluray makes it even better. The Picture Quality on the Bluray make the colors look so crisp and vibrant, and the Audio Quality was just as good. We also get a couple of Special Features to go along with the movie such as the Premiere of the Film, and a Photo Gallery. Unfortunately it’s not much but it’s still better than nothing. Overall, I found this movie to be witty and entertaining. The story is interesting, and the acting is fantastic. Although the Bluray doesn’t come with much other than the movie itself, it still looks beautiful and was worth picking up. If you’re a fan of either Joaquin Phoenix and/or Emma Stone, I would recommend checking this one out.

Special Features:

On the Red Carpet: Los Angeles Film Premiere

Photo Gallery

Overall Rating:

7 Out Of 10 Stars