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Liberal Arts

Play trailer Poster for Liberal Arts PG-13,  2012,  1h 37m,  Comedy/ Drama/ Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 72% 114 Reviews Tomatometer 60% 5,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
72% Tomatometer 114 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A New York college adviser (Josh Radnor) becomes involved with a student (Elizabeth Olsen) when he returns to his alma mater in Ohio for a favorite professor's (Richard Jenkins) retirement party.
Liberal Arts

What to Know

Critics Consensus

While it's hard not to wish it had a little more bite, Liberal Arts ultimately succeeds as a good-natured -- and surprisingly clever -- look at the addictive pull of nostalgia for our youth.

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Critics Reviews

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Roxana Hadadi Punch Drunk Critics Jan 9, 2017
2/5
Liberal Arts seems aggressively cheery, determinedly lacking in negativity, and very affirming in its protagonist's masculine heroism. None of it is a surprise, and as a result, not much of it is very good, either. Go to Full Review
Chase Whale Film.com Nov 8, 2013
Poetic justice Is served in insightful LIBERAL ARTS Go to Full Review
David Stratton At the Movies (Australia) Dec 12, 2012
3.5/5
he characters are interesting and, again, I really felt for the guy's dilemma whether to start a relationship with this much, much younger girl or not. Go to Full Review
Jordan M. Smith IONCINEMA.com Nov 16, 2020
Fervently free of cynicism, Radnor's latest feature transcends its quirks with a smartly wound college excursion that looks to the past and finds nostalgia, possibilities and a new outlook on life. Go to Full Review
Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 14, 2020
3.5/4.0
The final result is a film that satisfies intellectually despite occasionally dipping into the land of the formulaic. Go to Full Review
Jim Ross TAKE ONE Magazine Feb 13, 2020
There's nothing revolutionary going on here, but LIBERAL ARTS will speak wittily to certain audiences with an enjoyable clarity and resonance. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Mar 9, 2019 Josh radnor is great The movie literally shows you that is fine to fall in love with someone 18 years younger than you and everything that matters is to love each other and have things in common but it's not The movie let you see that age difference is big deal in a relationship May not be the perfect script but it makes its point With some moving moments And clever dialogue See more
Draco S Jan 25, 2019 Not the greatest movie to depict the liberal arts. I didn't realize that it was going to be completely a romantic film. I was hoping that they'll give at least a decent reality of what a liberal college would be like. See more
Leia W Jan 7, 2019 I have no idea who Josh Radnor is, but how did he get to make his own movie? His own script? and act in it? It's not even that it's that bad, some of the characters are fairly interesting but my word, I rolled my eyes so much I was nearly dizzy. Hey man, remember when we were at college, those days were so special man. He then goes to college, lusts after a 21 year old virgin (no honestly) but obviously doesn't do anything because like he's a gentleman man. Saves a suicidal teen in a week (as you do), sleeps with the tutor he always loved but finds out actually she has secret cold heart. Reconnects with his favourite tutor, because they're friends or something? But they both just are in love with the memory of college man... FUCK OFF YOU DRIP! See more
Anakin S Nov 20, 2018 Jesse Fischer (Josh Radnor) is a 35-year-old college admissions officer in New York City who loves literature and language, but is newly single and dissatisfied with his life and career. He believes that the happiest time of his life was the years at his unnamed Ohio liberal arts college, where he could study poetry uninterrupted, surrounded by others like him. Peter Holberg (Richard Jenkins), his former English professor, invites Jesse back to the college to attend Peter's retirement ceremony. Jesse meets 19-year-old Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a sophomore studying drama and the daughter of Peter's friends. After the retirement dinner, Jesse stumbles upon a dorm party where he runs into Zibby. They agree to have coffee together the next day. He spends the afternoon with Zibby, and they walk around the campus discussing life, books, and music. He also encounters his old romantics teacher, Judith Fairfield (Allison Janney)-a woman he has long admired-and meets the eccentric Nat (Zac Efron) and Dean (John Magaro), a brilliant but depressed student who, like Jesse, always carries a book with him. Before Jesse leaves, Zibby asks to stay in touch; they become pen pals and become closer via handwritten letters... Rotten Tomatoes consensus states: "While it's hard not to wish it had a little more bite, Liberal Arts ultimately succeeds as a good-natured -- and surprisingly clever -- look at the addictive pull of nostalgia for our youth." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 and a half out of 4 stars and stated in his review: "Liberal Arts is an almost unreasonable pleasure about a jaded New Yorker who returns to his alma mater in Ohio and finds that his heart would like to stay there. It's the kind of film that appeals powerfully to me; to others, maybe not so much. There is a part of me that will forever want to be walking under autumn leaves, carrying a briefcase containing the works of Shakespeare and Yeats and a portable chess set. I will pass an old tree under which once on a summer night I lay on the grass with a fragrant young woman and we quoted e.e. cummings back and forth. There is a word to explain why this particular film so appealed to me. Reader, that word is "escapism." If you understand why I used the word "reader" in just that way, you are possibly an ideal viewer for this movie." Josh Radnor´s "Liberal Arts" (which he wrote, directed and starred in) is an attempt of a coming of age late in life indie film, but hardly get´s the bits and pieces together in my point of view. The story which deals with nostalgia and looking back in life is not that intriguing nor put together in a satisfying way. I do like Elisabeth Olsen, but since Radnor is weak as an actor and can only really play the always doubting Ted Mosby in "How I Met Your Mother" there´s no proper sparks between Olsen and Radnor and their story in the story becomes pretty much nothing. I think the selfdoubting in life and the joy of nostalgia has a clear recognition factor, but in this packaging it becomes too vague and too much so so. The essence and focus is simply missing. See more
Harry R Nov 13, 2018 This film was solid.
Luke W Oct 8, 2018 Ugh, Liberal Arts. Josh Radnor stars as a disenchanted thirty something year old guy pining for his college day experiences. As fate would have it, he has the opportunity to return to his college stomping grounds and he does. In doings so, he meets Elizabeth Olsen who is convincing enough as his young temptress. I can appreciate Josh Radnor as I watched much of How I Met Your Mother but felt like he fell in one of the pitfalls which is to direct and star in your own film; few artists can get away with it. Although the film has its moments, during most of the movie I was looking for reasons to multi task while on my couch. Who isn't tired of hearing this same old story of a man approaching middle age who realizes his memories of yesteryear may be a disillusion and the happiness he's looking for is in fact in the present day? I certainly am. Admittedly, it was endearing to see Radnor's character sit on Olsen's bed like a little boy when he could have easily become a predator; the scene just screams out to us, this is how sees himself. The highlight for me was Zac Efron as his "fairy godmother" who pushes Radnor's character into opportunities he may not have otherwise encountered. It took me a couple of attempts to get through this one. Thank goodness for pausing and resuming on Netflix streaming. Amazon Video offers it for purchase but not to rent. No, it's not worth the couch time. See more
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Liberal Arts

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis A New York college adviser (Josh Radnor) becomes involved with a student (Elizabeth Olsen) when he returns to his alma mater in Ohio for a favorite professor's (Richard Jenkins) retirement party.
Director
Josh Radnor
Producer
Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra, Lauren Munsch, Jesse Hara, Josh Radnor
Screenwriter
Josh Radnor
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
BCDF Pictures
Rating
PG-13 (Sexual Content|Mature Thematic Material|Sexual References|Some Teen Drinking)
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 14, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$241.8K
Runtime
1h 37m
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