Liberal Arts

A film written , directed and starred in by a mildly successful TV actor ..no way anything can go badly with this scenario surely?

I do admit i was skeptical about this film when I heard it , 30 something goes back to college to see a beloved professor while in the middle of a midlife dilemma about the futility of it all blah blah blah . I have seen that film before and I really had no interest in seeing it again , particularly not one which considered itself "profound "and also the idea of him and his friendship with the young college student seemed a little creepy

Yet despite my really negative view towards this film I really enjoyed it . The pace of the film was good and it rarely dragged and a credit to Josh Radnor this movie is pretentious but is aware it is being so which is really a difficult accomplishment. Most of the comedy is left for the audiences decision their isnt that awkward pause for a punch line or even just having jokes at the end of sentences it is very much up to the audience in a way that most films do not allow and I think this is itself makes LA worth seeing .

Their is a fair amount of credit due to Elizabeth Olsen who i thought did just a fabulous job in this , her character was a real person and I think really held the film together as Radnor's character on the whole was similar to How I Met Your Mother and other TV characters, believable to a point and beyond that they are purely TV characters , which is fine normally but when surrounded by better actors it becomes increasing noticeable.

The real credit lies with the supporting cast in this film however , these were where the wonderful and a round of applause (and believe I'm surprised to say it too) to Zac Efron who had the funniest and most surreal and bizarre character. Also the characters of The school professor ( Richard Jenkins ) and the troubled college kid (relative newcomer John Magaro) I was particularly impressed with Marago and probably would have improved this film with more of him in it as he is just very believable and relatable , i'd say watch out for him.

The most noticeable fault I would have to say with the film was in scripting (sorry Radnor but when you do all 3 your bound to fall down) I found the two main characters Radnor was so determined to make them three dimensional that he would invent traits and quirks and then they would be ignored and new ones created which was just to cut and chopped and made the flatness of the character very high lighted and the flip side the supporting character were given this one trait and was never altered or expanded making them somewhat flat though

Final Word:

This isnt as artsy and out their as the film is trying to claim but it is a funny , charming film and handles what is a potentially a creepy awkward problem really well and if you don't hope for deeper look into the film then it really is worth a viewing 

6.5/10