Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

srdjan_veljkovic Compared to "happythankyoumoreplease", this is much more mature. The story is more mature, the humor is more mature. Not just because the main character is older and not just because he's less of a Ted Mosby of HIMYM fame, and the whole setup has very little similarities w/HIMYM. There's one _great_ joke and several very good ones, though there are less good ones in total (compared to "happythankyoumoreplease"), which is OK, since the story is more mature.But, it fails short of being a very good or great movie/comedy. Mostly because Radnor seems afraid to explore interesting opportunities. Sure, there are people who are like that, and you can say that movie is showing such people, but, well, showing such people is not well suited for a good movie, especially a comedy. At least the way that the story is positioned.Also the whole "you're better off dating someone your own age" feels way too politically correct and somehow unworthy of Radnor (the movie actually uses the politically correct term "age appropriate"), as Radnor seemingly stands for "good and nice things, regardless of political correctness". You would expect "you're better of dating someone you really love, regardless of age" from such a guy.So, Radnor needs to mature more and not be afraid to present his nice and funny view of the world, the politically correct police be damned! :) If he does that, he could make a great movie some day. I hope he does. Because, if he doesn't, that would mean that Barney Stinson failed to "teach him how to live"! ;-)

Prismark10 Josh Radnor writes, directs and stars in Liberal Arts. He plays Jesse Fisher a 35 year old introverted but bookish and charming nice guy who is an admissions interviewer at a New York City college.Fisher receives a call from his former college professor (Richard Jenkins) who asks him to attend his retirement party at his university in Ohio. While he is there he meets what seems to be a mature 19 year old student, Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) and both are attracted to each other, she inspires him to love classical music and opera but is hesitant to develop the relationship further because of their age difference. Zibby represents a hope for the future and vitality of youth that chimes with Fisher.He also meets his former English Romantics professor (Allison Janney) who he found inspirational for his love of poetry and literature as a student and later has a very unromantic one night stand with her only to discover she is jaded and has a heart of stone.Zac Efron pops up offering Fisher Zen like philosophy just when he needs it. Fisher also bumps into a depressed student who also reads the books that Fisher read as a student and Fisher feels compelled to reach out to him.Fisher finally meets a bookstore employee who shares the same love of literature he has and they are about the same age.The film is pleasant like Fisher but lacks backbone. Radnor is channelling Woody Allen, well three women fall for him in this movie but the movie lacks the cutting wit and melancholic bite which Allen could easily slip in his films.The film deals with the nostalgia of looking back which both Radnor and Jenkins do in this film. Even I felt a tingle when Jenkins admitted that he has always felt like a 19 year old, mainly because I had a similar thought earlier in the day before I watched this film.However Radnor is not strong enough an actor to keep up with skilled actors like Janney and Jenkins and his romance with Olsen did not look believable to me. A 19 year old would had ditched him as soon as he had a rant about Twilight type slushy vampire books.Some of the plot strands were unresolved, why did Jenkins change his mind about retiring and wanting three more years which the film never again dealt with.

dilipkumarp09 I could relate to every possible moment in the movie. Great dialogs, great actors. One of those movies you would not mind watching again and again!35 year old guy falls for 19 year old girl, but feels it would be inappropriate to act on it. Cast are fantastic. It's a small movie and not overly eventful, but I really enjoyed it. This is the second of Josh Radnor's films I have seen, I have been really impressed. And also with Elizabeth Olsen as an actress. Worth a watch.Liberal Arts is a resolutely vanilla-flavored concoction but still pleasant, amiable, and a little more thoughtful than your average rom- com.

FlickChick82 Great movie, it's a simple story, but aren't those usually the best. I totally got and dig Josh Radnor's philosophy presented here. It's so relatable. Best line in the entire movie is when one guy tells the other "none of us feels like an adult, it's the world's dirty little secret...". It's about being disappointed about where you are in life compared to one's youthful expectations, when one is still at college having this romantic, naive and somewhat illusional perception of life, what it is, what it could become and then as the movie is about to end, coming to terms with where one is right now and embracing it. I loved the scenes where the main character listens to classical music with headphones on his ears, walking down the streets of New York. Finally a fresh use of the New York scenery. Do see it, because it's a gem between so many mediocre movies that get made these days.