The Professor (2018)
Johnny Depp stars as an English professor for a prestigious New England college named Richard Brown who learns he has late-stage lung cancer and probably only six months to live without treatment, which he doesn’t plan on seeking. On top of this, Richard is also a terminally bored, self-absorbed jerk whose own life has been falling apart long before this diagnosis. His wife is cheating on him, with the chancellor (his boss) at the school, no less. Now he can say whatever he feels like, knowing he’s on his way out, and what he has to say is not always kind. With perhaps only months left, he decides to continue to teach his literature class, hoping to impart some actual value to his current crop of students before he succumbs to the disease. He’s also going to try to experience life without worrying about the consequences – a life he comes to realize he should have been trying to live all along.
Tonally, The Professor (which has been renamed from its initial title of Richard Says Goodbye; Roberts’ prior film, his debut, is called Katie Says Goodbye) is all over the place, at times playing like a farcical dark comedy, and at others like a heartfelt drama. It has effective moments at being either one, but together, the shifts can be felt, sometimes undercutting itself just when the film looks like it might be able to finally hit a prolonged stride.
Depp has plenty of room to roam with the character, but not so much for the mostly underwritten supporting cast. Particularly left wanting is the role of Richard’s philandering and fed-up wife Veronica, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, who valiantly tries to act like a lived-in and sympathetic human being, despite the screenplay not giving her too much more to do than to either look on adoringly or angrily as Richard gets to grandstand his position in life at every turn. Depp is certainly committed to the role and gives the part his all, but throughout his career, he has always been an excellent character actor, but a tougher sell in trying to act like a normal human being. Here, he’s given a grounded human to inhabit, but he still plays the role with his character tendencies, sometimes like a Jack Sparrow dialed down by 70%.
The real problem in connecting to this character study for many viewers will be the inability to feel any form of actual connection with Richard and his plight beyond anything that we might feel for a complete stranger going through the process, despite spending ninety minutes observing who he is and where he stands as he faces the daunting precipice of dying, perhaps alone.
By the end, we wonder if the theme of making sure that we live life the way we want to has come through, even though the narrative alludes to that on several occasions. Would Richard be who he is had he lived carefreely? Would he have ever had a wife? Would the daughter he loves so much exist? Could he have lasted long enough in his career? If you live a life without regrets, isn’t it possible to still have a regretful life? These are questions to ponder beyond the film that aren’t addressed properly in this film that seeks to inspire beyond its main character, yet can’t seem to see much other than his particular follies and foibles.
The Professor plays a great deal like the embodiment of my own college professors: learned and sometimes able to fascinate, yet unapproachable and full of unappealing self-importance.
Qwipster’s rating: C+
MPAA Rated: R for language, sexual content, and some drug use
Running Time: 91 min.
Cast: Johnny Depp, Rosemarie DeWitt, Danny Huston, Ron Livingston, Odessa Young, Zoey Deutch, Devon Terrell, Matreya Scarrwener
Director: Wayne Roberts
Screenplay: Wayne Roberts