DVD Review: Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts
written and directed by, and starring, Josh Radnor (DVD Liberal)

What looks, on the surface, like it might be a lightweight romantic comedy, turns out to be a surprisingly thought-provoking film about relationships, maturing, and the lure of the nostalgia of our college years.

 

Josh Radnor (the central figure of the long-running TV series How I Met Your Mother) plays Jesse, a 35-year-old New York college admissions advisor — hardly the fulfilling and challenging career the young English Literature major expected when he was back in college himself. When one of his favorite former professors asks him to return to the small Ohio liberal arts college he graduated from, to speak at the professor’s retirement, Jesse jumps at the chance. Back in Ohio, Jesse finds himself comforted by the familiarity of the small-town college world, but is surprised to find himself in a mutual attraction with a college sophomore girl, the daughter of friends of his professor/mentor.

 

The film explores Jesse’s torn feelings between having found a potential soulmate and the seeming improprieties in their 16-year age difference. Meanwhile, he is also questioning his path in life, which diverges so much from what his youthful goals had been.

 

This 2012 film features many excellent performances, especially Radnor as Jesse, Richard Jenkins as his mentor, Professor Hoberg, Allison Janney in a brief turn as another influential teacher in Jesse’s past, and John Magaro as Dean, a young student with depression issues, whom Jesse bonds with because Dean seems like a younger version of himself. But, the standout in this film is 23-year-old Elizabeth Olsen as Zibby, the 19-year-old female student who is unconcerned with the age gap in a relationship with Jesse. Olsen has since gone on to great acclaim in much larger projects, such as the streaming series Sorry For Your Loss, and as Wanda Maximoff in the Avengers movies and WandaVision on Disney+. She is luminous and full of life in this film, and the main reason it earns a “9” rating from me. Definitely worth checking out!

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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