Irrational Man is a 2015 American mystery drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey and Jamie Blackley. At the small-town fictional New England college campus of Braylin, philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Phoenix) finds himself in an existential crisis, but he eventually discovers a new purpose in life when he enters into a relationship with Jill Pollard (Stone), one of his students. The film was released on July 17, 2015 by Sony Pictures Classics in a limited release, later expanding wider.