Liberal Arts (Radnor, 2013)
On this day-ish 11 years ago, I gave a good review to this romantic comedy which is written, directed by and stars Josh Radnor and I don’t remember anything about Josh Radnor1 but I do remember who Elizabeth Olsen is.
I haven’t rewatched this on your behalf so I don’t know how cringy the age difference between them is from our “modern” perspective:
Just as much a fairy tale – although arguably more benign – Josh Radnor’s Liberal Arts follows a Radnor-like 35-year-old on an odyssey back to his alma mater where he meets a pretty young freshman (Elizabeth Olsen) who helps restore his zest for life and love of the romantic poets. Liberal Arts is – in fact – extremely romantic. It romanticises just about everything it touches. Thankfully, Radnor has cast his film extremely well – except perhaps for himself – and superb performers like Richard Jenkins (as Radnor’s retiring mentor), Allison Janney (an ice-queen professor) and Olsen go some way towards fleshing out what might have been clichéd characters. Olsen in particular confirms the promise she showed in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Her character is still too good to be true but Olsen at least gives her a heartbeat of her own.
The biggest problem I have with the generally affable Liberal Arts is the conservative conclusion. I wish the film had been braver but I suspect that may not be Radnor’s thing.
Also featured in that March 2013 Capital Times column: Alyx Duncan’s local documentary The Red House which we will come back to at some point in the future; Miles Teller stars in 21 & Over from the people that previously brought us The Hangover; and Mark Wahlberg vehicle Broken City in which Russell Crowe plays a corrupt NY mayor “with a Donald Trump haircut”.
Where to watch Liberal Arts
Aotearoa: Streaming on TVNZ+ (free with ads)
Australia: Streaming on Stan
Canada: Streaming on AMC+
Ireland: Not currently available
India: Not currently available
USA: Streaming on AMC+ or Kanopy (free from participating libraries)
UK: Not currently available
He was one of the stars of How I Met Your Mother, which is how I imagine he got this opportunity, and he was in five episodes of Fleishman Is in Trouble which we liked and probably deserves a recommendation here.
