Liberal Arts – A Classic on Classics

I’m a movie lover (DUH), so it’s rare that I see something I absolutely hate.

That said (I can admit this guys), it’s also rare that I’ll go as far as to say that something is one of my favorite movies ever… Not everything leaves a large of a mark on my heart as Titanic. Judge me if you will, but it’s because of opinions like that both Spielberg and Apatow can be successful in the same profession.

Okay, all that to say… I think, I think it’s happened again. Liberal Arts (my most recent screening endeavor) is an all-around fantastic movie. Fantastic. From good morals, to light-hearted romance to candid hilarity and phenomenal portrayals of real, believable people (pretty sure, it’s actually me).

It’s inspiring. Not only for fellow non-business and non-educationists, but also for the general norm (again, people like me). Elizabeth Olsen (the best thing to come out of that family since It Takes Two) and Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) have an adorable quality about them, both individually as quirky English majors seeking a greater sense of intelligence, and as a potential couple. Richard Jenkins and Allison Janney pretty much lock down the star power, and deliver a tragically on-point character illustration of childhood mentors revealed for what they really might be. And who (talking to those people like me) hasn’t had an intimate fantasy about that one teacher who seriously hung the moon? Mine was my creative writing professor. And–Mike knows this–he made appearances in my real dreams on several occasions. I still think about him often. He was a 6’5″ 50-something black man with a wrinkled face, salt-and-pepper dreds and two outfits, max. Don’t judge me–he taught me to write.

Liberal Arts is about life as a story, but it’s a story that doesn’t have to follow any rules, one that doesn’t have to conform to what’s expected, and honestly, it’s a story that doesn’t have an ending set in stone… that’s the charm of it. It’s such an adequate depiction of a young intelligent growing up, trying to find their place in a world of really smart people, people that act like they’re really smart and then what either of those people really have going on in their hearts. Gosh, I gush.

I will remember this movie forever. I would watch it again and again, and when something reminds me of it, I truly believe it will make me smile. Totally worth seeing. So Phenomenal, actually, that it’s a MUST-SEE.