Josh Radnor flunks out in LIBERAL ARTS

       Josh Radnor, fresh off his previous, indie-acclaim film, Happythankyoumoreplease (2010), is back as writer-director-star of another dialogue-driven comedy, Liberal Arts. The cast is very attractive, the tone is light and cute, but regrettably, the conversations and character interrelationships are lackluster.

       Josh Radnor portrays Jesse, a lonely, thirty-something bachelor who gets a call from his old college professor, played by Richard Jenkins, who invites him to come down to the university for his farewell retirement dinner. Jesse leaves the hustle-and-bustle of New York City and enters the lush greens of a quaint college campus.

       During his visit, Radnor becomes smitten by Elizabeth Olsen’s character, Zibby, a 19 year-old sophomore. At this juncture, the script falls flat at creating a deft connection between two people who like one another, but are not sure if their age difference will cause friction. Jesse has difficulty expressing his emotions. He has to let Zibby control and dictate the direction that their relationship is moving in. They walk and talk, sit and talk, and walk and talk some more. Their conversations take place at various locations—a coffee shop, outside on campus, inside her dorm room and a cathedral. When you have to change-up the locations for a getting-to-know-you conversation, it’s a sign that the dialogue doesn’t resonate any deeper than the various backdrops.

       Throughout the film, Jesse meets and interacts with an assortment of supporting characters on campus. There’s the hippie-freeloader (Zach Efron), the depressed lone-wolf (John Magaro),and then the mean-spirited lady professor, played with a superb, dryly comic sarcasm by Allison Janney. When you make a film where the lead actor engages in separate conversations with the supporting cast, it’s almost like a clichéd rule in screenwriting that the main actor has to follow through with all of those minor interactions. Not necessarily true. The great thing about independent filmmaking is that you don’t have to tie in every loose end, or at least, try to. It’s okay to leave the supporting characters behind in order to develop more meaning for the protagonist.

       As much as I smiled at the goofball- hippie-stereotype that Zach Efron portrayed, his character seemed to have little-to-nil impact on Josh Radnor. Screen time is precious, and when you feel like a character doesn’t have much of an effect on the film overall, then that’s where you say….can we cut it?

       With that said, Liberal Arts is awfully predictable. I know the structure isn’t the focal point; it’s the characters and humor, but for the opening night screening, I wanted to venture into the “unknown.” Every piece on the chess board moved precisely where I predicted.

       Conversely, I do give kudos to Radnor for writing, directing, and starring in his own film. I liked the premise, the charismatic performances and the laidback tone, but I wasn’t sold on the relationship between Olsen and Radnor; it felt forced and untrue. When it comes to witty and humanistic observations of couples, filmmakers always strive for the intellectual depth of Woody Allen, but we all can’t be like Woody.

** (out of four stars)