Josh Radnor: the white man's Tyler Perry? This guy just GETS white people; he understands what makes us tick. Maybe this wasn't Battleship Potemkin, but sometimes when I go to the movies I want to see MY struggle up there on the screen.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I've often read, this is no Happythankyoumoreplease and I agree, it's not in that league. But it does have something all the same, a smidgen of that effervescent heart. There were some gaff moments, a feeling of being slightly out of gear, but generally speaking I liked this quite a bit.

I'm a fan of Josh Radnor's. He has once again proven himself a decent screenwriter and director. This is simply a lovely little film that takes a look at what it's like after college. Made me incredibly nostalgic and that's not a bad thing. It's very warm, and for that reason could use just a little more bite and depth to the supporting characters

Nope.

barf

2nd cloying, awful indie from Josh Radnor. Not sure why I gave this a chance after his unwatchable first film (Happynothankyousomethingorother) but I think I was pulled in by Olsen and Jenkins. Well they can't do much to save this because they are speaking the inane dialogue written by the writer/actor/director who casts himself as the blandest leading man alive. It's amazing how many people and critics tend to give these lightweight, forced situational, unambitious indies an innocuous pass simply because they have the pretense of a big, well intentioned heart and an illustrious cast.

Writing, directing ánd playing the lead in your movie can work like a charm (Woody Allen, Zach Braff) but it can backfire as well. Liberal Arts is a pretentious story full of references about classical music and blah blah... Radnor's character is a snob. The most interesting people in the movie are Nat and Dean who, unfortunately, have to little screen time. It's a weak story making 30 somethings look like boring know it alls and the younger people like the way we all want to be. It's not funny, not romantic, there is no spark between the lead characters. I couldn't care less if they get together or not. Radnor takes himself to serious, which could have turned out great since he hasn't been funny is Ted in more than two seasons, but it doesn't. So there you go, ow, and the professor... he's a jerk.

Writing, directing ánd playing the lead in your movie can work like a charm (Woody Allen, Zach Braff) but it can backfire as well. Liberal Arts is a pretentious story full of references about classical music and blah blah... Radnor's character is a snob. The most interesting people in the movie are Nat and Dean who, unfortunately, have to little screen time. It's a weak story making 30 somethings look like boring know it alls and the younger people like the way we all want to be. It's not funny, not romantic, there is no spark between the lead characters. I couldn't care less if they get together or not. Radnor takes himself to serious, which could have turned out great since he hasn't been funny is Ted in more than two seasons, but it doesn't. So there you go, ow, and the professor... he's a jerk.

This is Josh Radnor's second film in which he triple-threats as director, writer and star. This movie is basically a bunch of conversations hitting lightly on interesting topics and ideas. There is an overarching narrative but it largely is there just to have these conversations. This isn't necessarily a bad thing although other films have been very successful at doing both. I am optimistic for Radnor's future career as a filmmaker and hope that he can grow even more maybe becoming a Richard Linklater of sorts. Elizabeth Olsen is very convincing as well in her role.