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Jesse
Fisher (Josh Radnor) is invited to see his old college professor, Peter
Hoberg
(Richard Jenkins) retire and give his closing speech at Liberal Arts
College.
While at the retirement party he meets the beautiful, young, Zibby
(Elizabeth
Olsen). The pair immediately hit it off but while their passion
continues to
blossom it becomes evident that the distance and age between them could
make or
break the couple.
Where
to start, first off this movie is directed by Josh Radnor, it’s also
written by
Josh Radnor, produced by Josh Radnor and starring, yep you guessed it,
Josh
Radnor. Just like Inception it’s a
Radnor within a Radnor and that’s my main issue with Liberal Arts: it’s
just so
self-indulgent. Radnor, the rad for short, is so assured of himself in
real
life that he just comes off a little too conceded. The dialogue is
unrealistic
between Radnor and Olsen. She is a college student not a professor with
a
degree in the English language.
Liberal Arts
doesn’t play out like your usual 3 act movie either. While there might
be a
setup, there is no conflict or resolution. The script lacked plot
devices that
make a movie convincing. I found my attention being drawn to Hoberg
(Jenkins).
His storyline of the retired professor trying to find meaning to his
life and
make the last days of his life count, just made more sense of a movie
then the
escapade that Jesse takes.
I
hate getting film critic in my reviews, I like to talk to the reader
like they
are my friend but Josh Radnor doesn’t seem to know how to direct a
movie either.
I found myself being shocked when he would break first rules of angles,
choosing quantity over quality. There were numerous times that extras
were in
scene after scene where it would have been physically impossible for
them to
have made that distance in so little time. Liberal
Arts is filled with edits that didn’t seem to connect up to the
script taking
me completely out of the movie and making me think what the heck just
happened.
I can understand that this is his second movie, but I would had hoped
that he
would have had lessons in the art before using his fame to make movies.
While
it is almost a complete failure in my eyes there was a glimmer of hope
in the
extended cameo of Zack Efron as the hippy stoner Nat. Efron’s acting
lit up the
audience, bringing me out of my daze and throwing in a couple of
chuckles. Yet
again I found myself more intrigued in to what his character was up to,
even if
his screen time was no longer than 5 minutes. It can’t be a good thing
when you
write a movie and accidently make the supporting cast is more
entertaining than
the main storyline. Is it possible that Josh Radnor is a genius and
committed
the crime on purpose? I doubt it! Liberal Arts
comes off as an indie movie trying too hard to be an indie movie.
Making it too
quirky and unique just made it more weird and unoriginal. This is one
movie I
really wanted to walk out on yet little things like Efron made me stay.
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