In 'Professor,' Johnny Depp performs interesting one-man show

Johnny Depp plays English literature professor Richard Brown, in film “The Professor.” Courtesy of JOYNCINEMA

By Lee Gyu-lee

Johnny Depp, usually known for his flamboyant and oddball characters, returns to the big screen with the comedy-drama “The Professor.” Only this time, he appears without makeup and fancy costumes to play a privileged middle-aged academic who makes a new start in life as he approaches the end of it. He is dying, and his days are numbered.

The movie written and directed by Wayne Roberts tells the story of Richard Brown (Johnny Depp) ― an English professor ― diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. He would have a year-and-a-half left to live if he chooses to receive treatment. If not, he will die within a year. He chooses to live the last days of life to the fullest with no treatment.

He plans to break the news to his family at dinner but this fails as other family members have their own secrets to share, despite that his is the saddest.

His daughter Olivia ― played by Odessa Young ― comes out of the closet, and his wife Veronica ― played by Rosemarie DeWitt ― nonchalantly confesses she is having an affair with Richard's boss who he despises. Caught in the whirlwind of shocking news, Richard decides to keep the news to himself instead, to free himself to “do things very differently.”

A poster for the film. Courtesy of JOYNCINEMA

Richard says goodbye to the rules and pretending his life has no problems, before bidding goodbye to his life. He starts with dismissing the students in his class who have no interest in literature, then moves on to smoking marijuana with them on the school lawn and starting to explore sex freely.

The film continues with humorous moments through Depp's rakish and sarcastic character.

The film is not overly sentimental and portrays a less cliched story of a man facing mortality and saying goodbye to his surroundings. But at the same time, it offers moments of warmth, at least until it turns into a melodrama with a less-convincing “seize the day” lecture.

By using the metaphor of living life as writing a story, Richard tells students to make it a meaningful and readable one. Some might find themselves saying “Is that it?” as one of his students asks in the film, when he “vomits out,” as he quotes, words of wisdom to the class.

Despite the film's attempt to draw “Dead Poets Society” moments with life-lessons for his students, the big speech fails to be thought-provoking enough to provoke an “aha” response from the audiences.

Overall, it's interesting to see Depp playing a “normal” person with a bare face and delicate performances with the mixed feelings that accompany facing death, and with the message to make our last moments count.

But the movie seems to fail in elaborating on some of the potentially interesting factors and even contradicting itself by attempting to deliver an inspirational message through Richard's reckless abandon.

The supporting roles played by Zoey Deutch and Danny Huston seem to have been undermined, and did not leave an impression. Deutch's character Claire, one of Richard's students, stands out from the rest of the class and quickly builds intimacy with Richard.

Their nighttime hangout leads him to share his imminent death for the first time after telling his long-time friend. But the connection between the two stops there and leaves the audiences wondering what exactly her role was. The film sends a message that life is too short to be mediocre, yet ironically it ends up being mediocre itself.

The film is scheduled to hit local theaters Aug. 15.