Dallas IFF 2012 Review: Liberal Arts

Film, Reviews, Top Story

Josh Radnor’s sophomore film is a keeper with a great cast, effectively examining life at all stages

Josh Radnor’s first film happythankyoumoreplease had a lot of potential. The How I Met Your Mother star had a lot to say about young adulthood and uncertainty, but while it won an award at Sundance, I felt it wasn’t very well executed. I felt that the script just slightly touched on his points, but had far too many independent film quirky cliches. With his sophomore film Liberal Arts, all of that potential was realized.

Jesse (Radnor) is a college admissions counselor in New York City who feels like his liberal arts degree is going to waste. He loves literature and would rather bury his nose in a book than keep a relationship; his girlfriend leaves him in the opening scene. He gets a phone call from his favorite college professor, Pete Hoberg (Richard Jenkins), who asks him to speak at his retirement party. Glad for the opportunity to return to the college that gave him so many great memories, Jesse accepts.

While there, Jesse meets a energetic college student named Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen). In her big hopeful eyes, Jesse sees the college kid that he used to be, and the two of them become fast friends. Upon Jesse’s departure from the college, Zibby burns him a CD of the classical music that she learned to love in a music appreciation class and asks him to send her a handwritten letter. In an age of e-mail and social networking, the two of them strike up an 18th century long distance romance.

After a few months of this, Zibby asks Jesse to visit her again at school. When he returns, he realizes that he must stop living in the past and return to adulthood. A realization that doesn’t come easily at first.

The message of the film is nothing new, but is executed very well. Even though Liberal Arts is primarily about the struggles of Jesse, a thirty-something trying to find validation in his life, it’s also about people in other age groups. Like Professor Hoberg, who is trying to deal with his retirement. In an emotional scene, he goes to the head of his department and begs for his job back. He just doesn’t know how to live without the routine of his work day, and he fears the unknown: retirement.

In the center of it all is Zibby, who desperately wants to grow up too quickly like every teenager or college kid. She is the aggressor in the relationship with Jesse, and she downplays their age difference even though it makes him uncomfortable. She is highly intelligent and well educated, and yet she lacks the life experience to be completely compatible for Jesse.

When Jesse steps back from their budding yet strained relationship, he realizes that he has been spending his time wishing he could go back to his college days instead of enjoying the period in his life right now. That’s the ultimate message of the movie, I felt. There is no better time in your life than RIGHT NOW. It’s a message that is preached often, but followed less so.

Aside from the wonderful acting from everyone involved, Zac Efron’s small but significant role bears mentioning. He plays a man of college student age (it’s unclear whether or not he’s actually a student at the college) who acts as Jesse’s Jiminy Cricket. He appears without warning, and provides existential advice and a lot of comic relief. He is fantastic in this role, one that is somewhat likened to Matthew McConaughey’s character in Dazed and Confused. After seeing Efron in Liberal Arts, it appears his acting potential is sorely untapped.

Allison Janney also plays a phenomenal supporting role as one of Jesse’s former teachers. She can play bitchy and uptight like no other, and the final scene with her is one of the most pivotal for Jesse’s journey.

Liberal Arts is a movie that will hopefully do well upon its release this September; it deserves to be widely seen. The film deals with the very different struggles of people during their lifespan, and it offers solace in what might be a time in your life that is seemingly mundane. The message is one of gratitude and contentment, and Josh Radnor is to be commended for conveying that message without being preachy or overly precious.


Writer/Director: Josh Radnor
Notable Cast: Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, Zac Efron

Jenny is proud to be the First Lady of Inside Pulse Movies. She gives female and mommy perspective, and has two kids who help with rating family movies. (If they don't like 'em, what's the point?) She prefers horror movies to chick flicks, and she can easily hang with the guys as long as there are several frou-frou girlie drinks to be had.