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How entertaining? ★★☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 15 August 2012
This article is a review of LIBERAL ARTS. |
“It’s not my job to make you feel good any more,” Ex-girlfriend Leslie to Jesse
Opening with an Ecclesiastes quote and then not mentioning the book it’s from or religion in general is an odd choice, in a movie filled with bad choices. Josh Radnor has decided to do a Zach Braff, and leap from appearing as a sitcom lead to writer-director-star in their own movie. Despite the heavy-handed 20-something angst, GARDEN STATE was an extremely confident debut. The same cannot be said of the move from patchy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER to LIBERAL ARTS. The acting pedigree is here: Richard Jenkins, Alison Janney and Elizabeth Olson, but the writing and directing is not.
Opening with an Ecclesiastes quote and then not mentioning the book it’s from or religion in general is an odd choice, in a movie filled with bad choices. Josh Radnor has decided to do a Zach Braff, and leap from appearing as a sitcom lead to writer-director-star in their own movie. Despite the heavy-handed 20-something angst, GARDEN STATE was an extremely confident debut. The same cannot be said of the move from patchy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER to LIBERAL ARTS. The acting pedigree is here: Richard Jenkins, Alison Janney and Elizabeth Olson, but the writing and directing is not.
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Jesse (Radnor) is involved in admissions at a New York uni, and in love with literature – we are shown this as he walks down the street reading a hardback of Booker Prize winner THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS. A scene representing the whole: a desperate grasp at literary weight, which has to be constantly pushed in our faces, referencing Chaucer to Blake, instead of being there subtly for the audience to discover. Jesse is invited to come back to his old university by one of his professors, Peter (Jenkins), for a retirement dinner. In a GROSSE POINTE BLANK-stylee, the visit triggers a mini-crisis of anxiety about aging and missed opportunities. LIBERAL ARTS does ask interesting questions about time passing, but doesn’t delve into them enough.
While on the visit, Jesse meets Zibby (Olsen), and a burgeoning relationship ensues through letter correspondence – I kid you not. There is no acknowledgement of any tweeness. Zibby is irritatingly named and synonymous with the two leads, who grate with every exchange. Radnor goes even more sad-sack than HOW I MET, sans any of the show’s barely-there wit. Character interactions feel false, while aiming for profundity that isn’t there. I applaud ambition, but this so missed the mark. There is a lunch scene about improv acting epitomising the cringey lumpiness – characters laugh at each other’s non-humorous jokes; and is followed by Zibby telling Jesse how life is improvised. Really? Thanks for the nugget of wisdom. The peripheral players who say a few words engage the most:
- Judith, a professor of romantic literature (Janney),
- Ana, a quiet book seller (Elizabeth Reaser), and
- Nat a funny hippie who pops out of nowhere extolling Zen guidance (Zac Efron).
But they can’t save the movie. Rather we get assailed with trite sentiments, such as, “Any place you don’t leave is a prison.”
If you’re the sort of person that thinks EAT PRAY LOVE is deep and not annoying, you’ll love LIBERAL ARTS.
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