Liberal Arts (2012)

-Written by Kyle Bain. 

35-Year-Old Jesse (Josh Radnor) is experiencing what can only be described as a mid-life crisis. He works a tedious, uninspiring job at a local university, his girlfriend has just left him, and the once-stimulating life he had is slowly slipping away. Liberal Arts follows Jesse as he rekindles old relationships and explores new possibilities on his old stomping ground. 

Still, quite some time after watching Liberal Arts, I have difficulty understanding my own feelings toward the film. There are aspects of the film that I hated, while there were moments that I felt were brilliant and compelling. Radnor leads this film, not only as its protagonist (and maybe even its antagonist), but as the writer and director as well—placing the ball firmly in his court and tasking him with building this world and this production from the ground up. 

If you’ve ever watched Liberal Arts, I feel that you’ll be able to understand my reticence, my inability to comprehend how I feel about this film. Liberal Arts needs to be broken down and analyzed uniquely compared to other films. And the best way I can think of to provide appropriate insight into each of the film’s pieces is to simply make a list. 

Here’s the bad:

• Pretension 

  • The film insists upon itself—both ironically and unironically. Radnor fully commits to the bit about his Jesse and his counterpart Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) being snobby, pretentious, and unappealing in terms of their outlook on the world. He leans into this sentiment, making something of a meta joke about how frustrating it is that there are people out there who look down on others for their beliefs and interests. However, I feel that it was necessary for Radnor to digress, as he needed moments in which he pivoted from the obtuse vernacular and developed balance in the dialogue. By choosing not to do this, he leaves his film open to scrutiny. 

• The Inappropriate Age Gap

  • I decided early in my viewing that I would be unwilling to accept any romantic exploration between Jesse and the 19-year-old Zibby. Is that fair? Maybe not, but I don’t care. I saw the direction Liberal Arts was headed, and I disapproved before it even happened. Cringe isn’t a word that I would typically use, but the relationship between the aforementioned characters certainly rubbed me the wrong way, altering my opinion of the remainder of the film.

• Nat (Zac Efron)

  • Efron is wonderful in this film, and my frustration with the character certainly doesn’t stem from the fact that he was the one portraying him. Nat, however, is the typical stoner who manages to impart wisdom throughout the course of the film. He’s meant to be a breath of fresh air, a hiccup in the mundanity that resides in Liberal Arts. Sure, the character effectively does what it’s meant to—but much like the rest of the film, the cliché is overbearing and unnecessary. 

• Cliched Archetypes

  • Much like my reason for not appreciating Nat, I found the overly cliché characters to be overly imposing and antagonistic. Why does every character have to fit perfectly into an age-old archetype? In short: they don’t. Yet, Radnor seemingly feels the need to shove each character into a tiny box, and they remain shackled there throughout the entirety of the film. The everyman, the trickster, the mentor, and so on flood the screen with derivision; I couldn’t get past this aspect of Liberal Arts. Shake things up; try something new; take viewers down a road less traveled. The cliché is strong with this one, and it’s a detriment to its success. 

I don’t want to sit here, writhing with cynicism—so it’s imperative that I express what positives grace the screen in Liberal Arts as well. And, here they are:

• Intentional Frustration

  • Many of the aforementioned aspects of the film are obvious causes of frustration. To some degree, however, I do believe that this was Radnor’s intention. This is, in many ways, the reason why I struggle so greatly to understand my personal feelings on the film. I feel that Radnor begs viewers to scrutinize Liberal Arts, and at his behest, viewers have no choice but to oblige. The fact that Radnor is successful in frustrating ventures 

• Dean (John Magaro)

  • Dean is ironically my favorite character in Liberal Arts. He’s a pessimist, depressed, passionate about the wrong things, snobbish, and a handful of other negative things. What Dean also is is real. Dean is heavily scrutinized by other characters throughout this film, and Radnor makes it abundantly clear that he is a wildly flawed human being. Many of his characteristics, both good and bad, resonated with me—and, again, Radnor’s willingness to point out the flaws, while attempting to remain optimistic in his direction of Dean, landed and propelled Liberal Arts forward. 

• The Title

  • I don’t often put much stock in the titles of films. Occasionally the title of a film will befuddle me, causing me to question its purpose. Liberal Arts, however, is an interesting choice. At first glance, it feels overly simplistic, a bit vague, and possibly even disconnected from much of the content of the film. Upon further ponderance, I realized that Radnor’s decision was brilliant. It is a vague term, one often synonymous with the inability to choose a direction (and more specifically a college major). Much of Liberal Arts is about instability. Whether it’s always looking back at what once was, reticence about the future, or the uncertainty of now—the film frequently addresses the idea of being unsure. These sentiments pair beautifully with the title. 

As you can see, there is a series of both pros and cons that exist within Liberal Arts. Some of the negatives forced me to question the entirety of the production, while some of the more positive aspects felt like enough to make the entire experience worthwhile. Still, I feel as if there’s some part of me that can’t fully decide whether or not I love this film or despise it; however, I feel that this continued ambiguity, and my need to revisit the film and its value, is enough to express that it’s successful in its venture. Radnor forces viewers to question what makes something inherently good, humanity's moral code, and the meaning of life. All in all, Liberal Arts feels as if it ultimately does what it set out to do. 

Written & Directed by Josh Radnor. 

Starring Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, Zac Efron, John Magaro, etc. 

6.5/10 = WATCH IT FOR FREE 

Make sure to check out the full Reel Reactions w/ Greg & Kyle review featuring Alex Wise, Shaun Collins, Greg Vorob, and yours truly by heading to Spotify.