Irrational
I've always enjoyed movies which feature someone being made to think they are going mad, and that is what I thought I would get with "Irresistible" especially as it starred Susan Saranadon, Sam Neill and Emily Blunt. Well that is what "Irresistible" tries to be as we have a mother cracking up as things go missing and she begins to suspect her husband of having an affair but it makes a fatal flaw. The flaw is that it is too far fetched, it throws moments of madness at us which are simply madness, they are too unbelievable and with no explanation of how these things happen "Irresistible" feels like it was still being written whilst being filmed.
Sophie Hartley (Susan Sarandon - Shall We Dance) is super mum, despite the recent loss of her own mum and the emotional strain she is a loving wife, mother of two and a talented illustrator all of which keeps her very busy. But Sophie begins to think she may be cracking up when things go missing, she hears noises and is sure someone is entering her home. She suspects Mara (Emily Blunt - The Adjustment Bureau) the sexy assistant who works for her husband Craig (Sam Neill - Wimbledon) especially when one day Mara shows up in her missing dress and becomes convinced that Craig is having an affair with her leading to even more paranoia.
The basic idea to "Irresistible" is nothing new and you can go back to the 1940's for movies which traded on this idea of a person being manipulated in such away to make them become crazy. And in truth the twist on this idea, which I won't go into, makes for a pleasant change from the norm especially as the basic plotline has you expecting the same outcome which has filled countless other movies before.
But here is the thing, "Irresistible" is one seriously flawed movie and it is down to the writing which was either still going on whilst the movie was being made or a director deciding to leave out important scenes which explained things. It makes it one irrational movie as we have a series of scenes which all contribute to Sophie's increasingly fragile state from an iron which whilst unplugged spuriously lets of a gush of steam to a scene featuring a swarm of wasps inside the house. It borders on the astonishingly bad because all of the moments of manipulated madness border on the outrageous and you get no explanation of how these things could have happened. That is not the only flaw and not only do you have characters doing some seriously stupid things but you also get problems sorted in an over simplified manner.
Pretty much the saving grace to this is the calibre of the cast because the trio of Susan Saranadon, Sam Neill and Emily Blunt do their best to make their characters interesting. Sometimes thanks to dodgy lines and daft ideas it backfires and sadly more often or not that leaves Emily Blunt as Mara bordering on a caricature but still it is the star power, the occasionally convincing moment of acting or Sam Neill delivering an unsettling outburst which keeps you watching.
What this all boils down to is that "Irresistible" wants to be a psychologically thriller where on person is manipulated into thinking they are going crazy but because it is too outrageous in those moments of madness it fails. If it wasn't for the star names "Irresistible" would have been better called "Irrational".
