Liberal Arts - DVD

Content: Jesse (Josh Radnor) is not really happy with his life at the moment. From his girlfriend he was left and his job at a New York college he does also only with little passion. He is all the more delighted when he receives an invitation from his former professor Peter Hoberg (Richard Jenkins) to come back to his old university for the celebrations marking his professional farewell. Here, the thirty-something is reminded of a time in his life when he really felt good. And the resurgence of these old feelings of happiness is intensified by the encounter with 19-year-old Libby (Elizabeth Olsen), with whom Jesse instantly has a good connection. A sizzling relationship quickly develops between the two, which is maintained even after Jesse's return to New York in the form of a deep pen-pal relationship. At one point, when Libby writes Jesse how much she misses him and that he should definitely visit her, he must decide if this friendship can actually turn into a love that can have a future despite the age difference...

Liberal Arts is the second directorial effort from How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor. As in his debut Happythankyoumoreplease, Radnor again goes for much quieter humor than you're used to seeing in his hit sitcom. Much like Zach Braff, who sought to create a more sophisticated counterbalance to his role in Scrubs with his directorial efforts Garden State and The Last Kiss, Radnor is also trying to break away a bit from his currently very present role of Ted with his films. To be sure, Jesse is not a fundamentally different character than Ted. On the contrary, the two characters have quite a lot in common. But the approach to the character and the environment in which it is embedded is distinctly enough different from How I Met Your Mother for Radnor to show other facets of his skill here.

He is joined by the as always wonderful Richard Jenkins, a very charming Elizabeth Olsen and a surprisingly loopy and likeable Zac Efron. They all provide the very engaging feel-good mood of the film, through which it becomes understandable why Jesse feels so comfortable at his old university campus and why he believes to realize here that his life in New York does not make him happy. This is also where the film takes on a slightly melancholic undertone, as Jesse is held back from seeking his true happiness for the future by an idealized past he'd like to continue living in - something he has in common with his old professor.

This makes Liberal Arts more of a coming-of-age drama than a romance film. It's more about looking at the past as such and not wanting to frantically hold on to it. Jesse desperately wants to remain the young, idealistic and maladjusted student he was at his university, rather than the grown man who has to take responsibility for his job and his relationship in New York. He lives in a dream world and as a result doesn't realize that he is walking past his great happiness every day. It is similar with Professor Hoberg. He has the chance to bring a breath of fresh air into his life through his retirement, to experience something new and exciting. But he, too, is afraid of change and thus wants to hold on to his past for as long as possible.

The friendship with Libby that Jesse builds and that could soon become something more plays more of a supporting role, as does the encounter with a somewhat disturbed student who reminds Jesse of his younger self and whom he wants to free from his youthful world-weariness. It's all very charming and entertainingly constructed, but the film still lacks that final kick to be more than just nice entertainment with a pleasant flair. Radnor, as a director, simply needs to work on his storytelling pace a bit more so that he doesn't get too lost in moments that easily take on a certain irrelevance as a result. This already happened to him a couple of times in Happythankyoumoreplease and also in Liberal Arts you can spot isolated scenes that just could have used a little more pace. Still, if you appreciate American independent comedies of the quieter, charming kind, you'll easily be able to overlook such minor flaws. And then also applies quite clearly: worth seeing!

Picture + sound: The picture of the DVD pleases especially with its warm, ingratiating colors. The image sharpness is on a good level, although especially in the dark scenes would be qualitatively still air to the top. The sound is rather unspectacular, which is not unusual for a film of this genre. The dialogues and the soundtrack are here just in the center of the tonal events, smaller ambient noises but at least ensure that there is also a little life in the surround channels to feel. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has a very enthusiastic and interesting audio commentary by Josh Radnor and producer Jesse Hara to offer. There are also just under 15 minutes of cut scenes, which include an alternate beginning showing Jesse getting dumped by his girlfriend, as well as a completely removed subplot involving Jesse's buddy Miles (Michael Weston) and his dream of Spain and Spanish women. A 2-minute promo, which is a trailer enhanced with small interview sequences, and the trailer itself conclude the additional offerings.

Conclusion: Liberal Arts is a nice romantic comedy in which Josh Radnor proves, as he did with Happythankyoumoreplease as director, screenwriter and lead actor, that he can do much more than just tell his series children about how he met their mother. Although the romantic comedy has a few minor hangs, overall Radnor has managed to make a very charming film that hits right at the heart of the audience with rather quiet tones and likeable characters. If you like small American independent comedies like Zach Braff's Garden State, you can safely take a look here. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp