FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Professor
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Wayne Roberts
Starring: Johnny Depp, Rosemarie DeWitt, Odessa Young
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins

What It Is: Richard (Depp) is a professor of English at a small but prestige college. Things are not going so well. His sculptor wife Veronica (DeWitt) is cheating on him with the dean of the college Henry (Ron Livingston), and to top it all off he has just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Now Richard just really does not care about anything. His cheating wife, okay cool. His newest semester, if they don’t wanna be here they don’t have to be. All he wants is to enjoy his remaining time and get to his sabbatical…if they give it to him.

What We Think: Depp’s Richard is a super unlikeable guy. Like even when you discover his character’s illness there really isn’t much to like there. Wayne Roberts (who we’ve interviewed for his other, superior film) does what he can but I don’t think Depp has it in him anymore. Don’t get me wrong he’s not alone here. Most of the characters are utterly annoying. In fact, it’s a surprise to me that this film doesn’t work to the extent it didn’t.

Our Grade: D+, So this is a film I saw via DirecTV. I’m glad I didn’t have to travel anywhere to be this disappointed. ESPECIALLY given what I saw in Wayne Roberts’ other film…Katie Says Goodbye. So much of the is grounded in real situations and things that seem plausible. Whereas this…just didn’t. There’s one moment in particular where something happens and I just thought what the actual eff? You’ll know that moment when you see it. An utter disappointment this is not one that I can recommend in the least bit. Stay tuned though for our review of Roberts’ other film from 2019. It’s vastly different in style and delivery.