Woody Allen’s Art Imitates Life — Again

Image by Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

By Anne Cohen April 29, 2015

Woody Allen’s latest movie finally has a trailer. And the plot is, well, a little problematic.

“Irrational Man,” starring fellow MOT Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, promises another older-man-falls-in-love-with-young-muse, thinks-it-will-solve-inadequacies kind of story. According to the trailer, Phoenix plays philosophy teacher Abe Lucas, who joins a college faculty while grappling with an existential crisis. Lucky for him, he meets pretty young thing Emma Stone. One sunset-beach scene later, and our man Abe seems to have found the meaning of life.

I’m willing give Allen the benefit of the doubt — I have loved many, many of his movies. But personally, my tolerance-level for this kind of plot — especially given — is on a steep decline.

Watch the trailer here:

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.