Review of Liberal Arts (2012) by V H — 31 Oct 2012

Jesse Fisher (Josh Radnor) is a bookish 35-year-old college admissions officer living in New York City. He spends the first few minutes of the film being bored by his job, having his entire sack of dirty clothes stolen from the laundromat, and watching his ex-girlfriend pack up her belongings and leave him. Thus, when he gets a call from his favorite old college professor (Richard Jenkins) inviting him to attend his retirement party at Jesse's alma mater in Ohio, he jumps at the opportunity to return to a place he associates with happiness.

Jesse apparently loved college almost as much as he seems to loathe real life. He is so filled with joy upon arriving on the campus filled with Frisbee tossers and book-toting students that he literally drops to the ground and rolls around in the grass like my dog does when he finds a particularly enticing smell. To Jesse, college was a time of limitless possibilities and meaningful conversations. He and I clearly attended different schools.

When Jesse gets to Professor Hoberg's house, he learns that the professor also has two other houseguests whose 19-year-old daughter is currently a student at the college. When the gang goes out to brunch, Jesse meets daughter Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a precociously-adorable, doe-eyed member of an improv troupe. In case you were wondering, "Zibby" is short for Elizabeth, which seems a bit of a stretch to me. Why not "Zabe" or "Abet" or perhaps "Izab"? In any case, I found Zibby almost as annoying as her cutesy name. Jesse, on the other hand, seems to really like her.

Jesse and Zibby have a few more encounters (one accidental and two intentional) before he returns home to New York with a mixtape (mix CD?) she's made him to share her newfound passion for classical music stemming from an intro to music class. All she asks in return is that he send her a hand-written letter telling her what he thinks of it. (All I learned in intro to music was that Mozart's 40th could be easily identified by singing the lyrics "Mozart's in the closet, let him out, let him out, let him out!" Again, different schools.).

Jesse complies and sends Zibby a letter raving about how he, too, now loves classical music and it's changed his whole outlook on life. Zibby writes back and the two become pen pals, waxing poetically in letter after letter about how various movements profoundly affected them as I rolled my eyes and twiddled my thumbs. Eventually Zibby invites Jesse to visit her in the context of a "gentleman suitor", and after some quick calculations (on paper!), he ascertains that he is 16 years her senior, was 19 when she was 3, and will be 70 when she's 54. Did I mention that Jesse is really into books? Not math so much, apparently.

Needless to say Jesse does return to visit Zibby, but you'll have to watch the movie to see where it goes from there. (Hint: The "Twilight" novels feature prominently!) As luck would have it Jesse also just happens to encounter several characters he met on his first visit, including a dejected Professor Hoberg, a bitchy literature professor Jesse used to have a crush on, a brilliant student with mental health issues, and a spiritual stoner dude in a red Peruvian hat (Zac Efron). Apparently this is a very small campus.

I went into this movie with the lowest expectations possible, having chosen to see it for no other reason than the theater is close enough to walk to. Even so, I have to admit that it definitely has its moments of not sucking. Jesse is a very likable character, an unassuming but quick-witted neurotic type, and despite my mild distaste for his young friend Zibby, the scenes between them weren't in the least bit creepy and occasionally even bordered on charming.

Overall though, the film is about as uneven as the surface of the moon and spends way too much time flitting from one subplot to the next trying to get us to care about sketchy side characters who we hardly even know and who Jesse hardly even knows for that matter, but has somehow developed a deep connection with over the course of a few chance encounters. I'm sure there's supposed to be some overarching theme to it all, but I can't be bothered to try to figure it out.

I would not advise that anyone rush out and see "Liberal Arts" in the theater, but once winter is upon us and it becomes too cold to want to leave the couch, it will surely make a fine rental alternative to "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns.