About a half -
hour into the film, after Allen establishes his standard, complicated love story, this time involving a «
genius» philosophy professor named Abe Lucas (played by Joaquin Phoenix, with a heck of a gut), Jill, his brightest pupil (Emma Stone), who says she's in love with her boyfriend, and Rita, a married professor (Parker Posey), who all teach / attend the same Newport, R.I. university, «Irrational Man» takes a rather dark and very welcome
turn.