“What I love about improv is that it makes you always say yes, and then add something.” -Zibby

As someone who has attempted improv before, and has seen it done well I would have to agree with this statement. Nothing will halt a sketch faster than someone saying no, someone fighting against your choice or what you just said, or simply ignoring it. The best improv teams (and actors in general) say “YES” to the situation and dive in 110%. That is what helps make things grow to be so hilarious because they believe they are in this situation, and therefore, so do you.

Now, sadly, this film is not one giant improv show. But I enjoyed it all the same.

I have been waiting for LIBERAL ARTS to be released ever since I heard about it early this year. LIBERAL ARTS is Josh Radnor’s (How I Met Your Mother) sophomore feature film, and following in the same pattern as his debut, HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE (actual title…my space bar is working just fine), Radnor is the writer, director and lead actor in this film. And once again he has given us a film worth watching.

Radnor stars as Jesse an admissions counselor who works in New York who gets invited back to his alma mater to speak at a retirement party for one of his former professors. We are set up with just enough information before Jesse travels to this small Liberal Arts school in Ohio to see that life is basically nothing to write home about. And you can see once he steps foot back on campus that he enjoyed his time there. There is a transformation in him that is excited to return to this point in his life where he thrived.

I can’t speak for you but I had an enjoyable experience in my 4 years at Bethel. (Also a liberal arts campus) and whenever I return I am flooded with memories of the place and it instantly feels like I still belong there.

While out to dinner with Jesse’s professor who is retiring (Prof. Peter Hoberg as played by Richard Jenkins) they are joined by current student Zibby as played by Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Silent House) and her parents. At the dinner Jesse is introduced to Zibby’s work with the improv group on campus and her views on it as mentioned above. After they part ways Jesse is wandering around campus in the evening and encounters Nat (Zac Efron). Nat is not a student on campus “just visiting a friend’ or so he says, and strikes up a conversation with Jesse. Nat is for lack of better words, a hippie, but his character is quite the antithesis of where Jesse is in life so it makes for a good back and forth. Nat is also starts Jesse in the “say yes” attitude by encouraging him to follow the music into a gathering, where they find Zibby. Nat invites Zibby out to coffee the next morning for Jesse despite Jesse’s objections. He gives in and says yes again although they do have differing concepts of “morning” Jesse – 9AM, Zibby – 11:30AM.

At coffee and spending time around campus we see Jesse and Zibby connecting and having a good time. While sitting in the theatre Jesse says that he loved college life because you had “so many options in front of you, you could to anything when you graduated” and then when you get out into real life you realize that “well I guess this is it.” Zibby challenges this view by questioning whether or not Jesse is romanticizing youth as he is looking back on it. Personality wise these two characters have a lot to share with each other an you get the hints of a romantic relationship with Jesse picks up on but struggles with the age difference. In one scene later on in the movie he writes out “When I was 19…she was 3.” then takes it the other way “When I will be 80…she will be 64.”

Jesse and Zibby engage in the old fashioned correspondence of writing letters to each other, discussing music, life, books, etc. Zibby requests that Jesse visit her again that they boys at her school “remain 18-22 and insist on acting their age” and after some debate Jesse agrees.

That is where I will end the summary as to not spoil where the rest of this journey takes us.

I found that with this movie Radnor as a screenwriter creates a number of great characters to help flesh out his message, which for me very much seemed to be that everyone in life is always looking back, or looking forward, but never finds the satisfaction in who they are in the present. Zibby, Jesse, Prof Hoberg, Prof Fairfield (as played by Allison Janney), and Dean (John Magaro) all can be seen as struggling with this. Zibby’s character seems to fit well with Jesse’s because at times she does feel like she carries herself much older than her sophomore counterparts, and as most college students then when they reach that point in life that we were finally adults. When in all actuality we are still quite young. Jesse wants to be 19 and fit into this life again because he is happier with his past life than his current. Prof Hoberg felt like he was 19 being surrounded by college students during his tenure and worries that “like an inmate he will not make it out in the real world” after his retirement.

And then there is Dean. Jesse meets Dean in the coffee shop waiting for Zibby in his first trip. Jesse picks up a copy of Dean’s book that he is reading and they strike up a conversation about the author. Dean is very quiet and abnormal and we find out that he had some problems last year on campus and many students were surprised to see him return for classes that fall. I loved the Jesse/Dean character relationship because a lot of what I believe this film is trying to say is fleshed out whenever these two meet.

I was once again impressed by the cast of characters as well the actor choices. And LIBERAL ARTS was a film that encouraged you to think and reflect but was also full of great laughs and was an enjoyable time!

Distributed by IFC – LIBERAL ARTS opens in a limited release in the Minneapolis area today Sept 21st and can be found playing only in the Lagoon theater in uptown. (And a word of the wise from this guy…don’t lose your ticket if you park in the parking garage…it could end up becoming more of ordeal than you might think)

Landmark Lagoon

I give the film 4 popcorn buckets and can’t wait to see it again!

-Dav3