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ComedyYear2012Duration1h 37mIMDb6.7

Liberal Arts

ComedyDramaRomance

When 30-something Jesse returns to his alma mater for a professor's retirement party, he falls for Zibby, a college student, and is faced with a powerful attraction that springs up between them.

Trailer

Cast

Josh Radnor

Director

Josh Radnor

Jesse Fisher

Elizabeth Olsen

Zibby

Zac Efron

Nat

Richard Jenkins

Professor Peter Hoberg

Allison Janney

Professor Judith Fairfield

Elizabeth Reaser

Ana

John Magaro

Dean

Kate Burton

Susan

Robert Desiderio

David

Kristen Bush

Leslie

Ali Ahn

Vanessa

ND

Ned Daunis

Eric

Gregg Edelman

Robert

CC

Chelsea Chrostowski

Smiling Passerby Woman

RD

Richard Doone

Man in Bookstore Line

Caroline Lindy

Hostess

Shelby Mason

Lunch Friend

TA

Travis Alan McAfee

Laundromat Thief

Josh Radnor

Writer

Comments

10 Comments

PJul 27, 2026

.

Michael HaileJul 13, 2025

a movie which will help a lot from a lot

El maria de luxeJan 21, 2025

Ka N Ch AnJan 21, 2025

Odia kouyate Une guinéenne🇬🇳Jan 21, 2025

This has to be the worst movie I've seen in a long time. It had almost zero conflict (which is, possibly, the most important part of any story, screenplay, or thing-being-documented.) All I could spot were a bunch of middle-class, white Americans caught up and self-absorbed in their middle-class, liberal=arts-college-educated bubble. Speeches upon speeches were made on the British Romantics, (European) classical music, and dramatic improvisation. Is this really all "Liberal Arts" is these days? And is there even one black featured-extra in this film? The female lead's roommate was the only person of colour I spotted in a speaking role, but I could be wrong (it is possible that the inanity of the plot simply bored my observational skills into a pulpy, apathetic mess.)

Iamyoudxddy🤭👿❤️Jan 21, 2025

I was prepared to hate this movie, but I loved it. "Liberal Arts" is the very rare modern movie that is actually about something, other than the pleasant passing of 90 minutes with clever and attractive people. To me, it seemed like "Liberal Arts" tried to deal with the idea that the life of the mind begins in college and is then immediately crushed the day after college. This can sometimes make the believers in this life angry and inert and disappointed for the rest of their lives, to the point that the whole value of college, or thinking, is questioned. Questioned, but never totally disbelieved. Mr. Radnor was born the year before I went to college, but I still found much of his excellent writing to be a heartfelt, but unsentimental, depiction of the struggles that adults face every day. Like many of his characters, I too found that reading is often so much more interesting than living, to the extent that I had to give up meaningful reading fifteen years ago to raise a family. "Liberal Arts" made me long to pick up a real book again, while continuing to question if the intensity of that longing is good or bad

SafaeJan 21, 2025

I don't know what weed are people who wrote positive reviews for this piece of s h i t on, but it must be really good. Deceived by a trailer that creates the illusion of a decent rom-com on the glorious topic of relationships between a 22-year-old college sophomore and a 35-year-old liberal arts junkie, I was not hoping for much. In fact, I would have been happy with the very minimum: a few good self-indulgent jokes about 30something men and age difference in relationships, a flirtatious and entertaining college student that would light a sparkle in that man's existence, a few outworldly romantic scenes and a few inspiring shots of beautiful places. That's it! Honestly, I did not even dare expect some depth of conversation or character. But this film proved unable to deliver even the bare minimum and the agony of the screen-writer had me and my girlfriend shaking our head in disbelief at how bad a film can be. Okay, on to the gist. The film tells the story of the completely unremarkable 35-year- old Jesse who is bored the heck out of his life, obviously does not have a job, dreams or any purpose in life whatsoever. This vegitative inhabitant of New York City also feels an inexplicable nostalgia about his university years. Want to know why? Don't expect a logical explanation from this former 'excellent' liberal art student beside clichés so painful to listen to that it is almost funny. Lo and behold, the aforementioned cipher who is also a complete failure in life meets sophomore Zibby (short for Elisabeth). Did I say meet? Let me preface this correctly by saying that our imbecile of a hero is also an impotent man. When he sees the cute at rare times, but mostly average-looking Zibby, he does not dare talk to her and their meeting is aranged by an entertaining nature hipster of a dude that is the only bright spot in the film. What follows then is such a complete and massive pile of dog sh-it beta-male behavior and pseudo-romantic non-sense that is equal parts painful and depressing. If you want to see one of the worst rom-coms, this is an educative watch, but for all else, stay away. Stay away.

Nii ParsonJan 21, 2025

I always want to give indie movies with a good cast a chance but I was disappointed with this one. Josh Radnor plays a 35 year old who visits his old college and falls for a student. Josh Radnor has more or less the same expression on his face through the whole movie and can't quite pull off the complexities of the character he has written. Elisabeth Olsen has a charming and winning persona. The romance starts of interesting with the letters on classical music but when they meet up again the encounters feel forced and fall flat. The criticism of Twilight seems a bit petty. The unique way they bonded ends in a predictable way. The encounter with Alison Janney is quite amusing at first but then the dialog seems to go on too long their last scene. When he finally bonds with the age appropriate Elisabeth Reaser's character it doesn't feel like a feel good conclusion because you don't feel for her character.

Puseletso Mokhant'soJan 21, 2025

My expectation for this film was a romantic comedy, and it delivered on the romance, but especially on the comedy. The tone throughout was very witty, and there was a romance with New York, with music, and almost everyone. This turned out to be the second coming of age tale I happened to catch at the 2012 DIFF, fortunately this one was much more light-hearted than the first. Liberal Arts delves into the life of Jesse Fisher (Josh Radnor), who has just broken up with his girlfriend and is invited back to his old alma mater by a retiring favored professor. This gives Jesse time away from his current existence and in the process he gains some new perspective on life in general. Returning to the university has Jesse overjoyed because some of his happiest memories were during his time there and during this time he meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), Nat (Zac Efron) and Dean (John Magaro). I found the dynamic between Jesse and Zibby to be fun and reenergizing, because although she is considerably younger than Jesse, she has some simple truths that she imparts on him that he needs, specifically that some things are done just because they make you happy. Zibby is like most college students, not nearly as smart as she thinks, but she brings out some things in Jesse that he had lost or forgotten. The warmth between Jesse and Zibby was only balanced out by the bleakness of aging from the perspective of Jesse's favorite instructor Judith Fairfield (Allison Janney), who had at least one more profound lesson to impart, and the professor who invited him back, Peter Hoberg (Richard Jenkins). Nat was Yoda, and that's as much as I'll say about that. Jesse really did not have a growth spurt until after he upped his acquaintance with Dean. Dean was the antithesis of Zibby, and was very convincingly in a struggle that to the outside it would seem there should be no struggle at all. The time with Jesse is what I believe made Jesse understand what it is to truly be adult about things. This film like most that are character driven was nice, funny and insightful, but for me it did not require the big screen. Yes there was an opening chase scene, but this could have been a movie of the week on the small screen. I could and possibly would watch it again, and did enjoy it so I give it an amber light.

ChiKéJan 21, 2025

I liked this warm hearted and intelligent comedy, written and directed by Josh Radnor, a lot more than his first film "Happythankyoumoreplease'. Radnor also stars in the movie as Jesse Fisher, a 35 year old well read nice guy working as an admissions interviewer at a New York City college. He receives a call from his favorite former college professor, portrayed by the skilled veteran actor Richard Jenkins. Jenkins asks him if he can come to Ohio to attend his retirement party at his university, where he's stepping down after 37 years of teaching. Radnor accepts and while there meets Zibby, played by the superbly talented Elizabeth Olsen. She's 19 years old and a student there, as well as the daughter of friends of Jenkins. They're attracted to each other but Radnor hesitates at starting a relationship with her due to the age difference. Subsequently, what happens between them takes some unexpected twists and turns. I'll leave that to the viewer to see what happens. There are some wonderful supporting performances as well. Allison Janney is a hoot as a jaded imperious former English Romantics professor of Radnor's. Zac Efron, in a small but important role, plays a Zen-like philosopher who proffers up some interesting advice. Plus, Elizabeth Reaser adds well to the mix as a bookstore employee who may be a potential love interest for Radnor. All in all, not everything works in the film, sometimes going off the rails, but overall I enjoyed this quirky, intelligent comedy whose genre seems to be getting rarer and rarer in today's films.

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