This lightweight 2012 dramedy marks the sophomore effort of screenwriter/director Josh Radnor who is better known as being part of the ensemble of the long-running CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". Similar to another directorial venture from an actor with TV roots, Zach Braff's "Garden State", it's a charming enough effort, quite literate but ultimately inconsequential. He cast himself as Jesse Fisher, a 35- year-old admissions counselor who leaves New York to visit his bucolic alma mater in Ohio to attend the retirement party for Peter Hoberg, one of his favorite professors. In a decidedly nostalgic mood, Jesse strikes up a platonic relationship with Zibby, a 19-year-old sophomore who appreciates classical music, loves her improv class, and unapologetically enjoys vampire romance novels. Radnor deftly wraps his story in the romance of academia and cultural discernment at the same time showing his character's discontent about growing old without fulfilling the dreams he held in his youth on the same campus.
Radnor must think Jesse's discontent is endemic since he also shows Hoberg grappling with post-retirement life as well as the harsh cynicism of Judith Fairfield, a Romantics professor who reveals herself as a cougar holding no sentiment about former students who worshipped her in the classroom. There's also sad-eyed Dean, a suicidal student whom Jesse sees as a kindred spirit, and a new-age eccentric named Nat who pops up now and then to tell Jesse to go with the flow. Meanwhile, the courtship between Jesse and Zibby is handled with chaste affection until they face the inevitable moment when they face what their relationship is about. Radnor is amiable as the sometimes condescending Jesse, but his puppyish manner doesn't leave an indelible impression. He got lucky with the superb actors he was able to secure. Richard Jenkins ("The Visitor") plays Hoberg with fierce pride and vulnerability, expertly handling a scene where the humiliated professor asks for his job back. As Fairfield, Allison Janney ("The Help") lends her sharp-tongued brand of steely intelligence to a character type we have seen from her many times.
Once again, Elizabeth Olsen shows how she is shaping a fine career in small indie films - a standout in "Martha Marcy May Marlene", one of the few redeeming features of "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding" and now this assured turn as an open-minded, precocious coed who begins to see Jesse as the soulmate who could transcend their significant age difference. She brings a smart, zestful quality that helps the film glide over its potentially more unsavory moments. John Magaro plays Dean close to the vest since the part appears ill-defined, while Zac Efron is merely distracting playing strictly against type as Nat. Playing what amounts to a convenient plot device, Elizabeth Reaser ("Sweet Land") has a few brief scenes as an age-appropriate bookstore clerk back in New York. Cinematographer Seamus Tierney filmed Radnor's story on the campus of the actor's actual alma mater, Kenyon College, where Janney also graduated. It's a pretty place that will make you become wistful about your own college days.
Radnor must think Jesse's discontent is endemic since he also shows Hoberg grappling with post-retirement life as well as the harsh cynicism of Judith Fairfield, a Romantics professor who reveals herself as a cougar holding no sentiment about former students who worshipped her in the classroom. There's also sad-eyed Dean, a suicidal student whom Jesse sees as a kindred spirit, and a new-age eccentric named Nat who pops up now and then to tell Jesse to go with the flow. Meanwhile, the courtship between Jesse and Zibby is handled with chaste affection until they face the inevitable moment when they face what their relationship is about. Radnor is amiable as the sometimes condescending Jesse, but his puppyish manner doesn't leave an indelible impression. He got lucky with the superb actors he was able to secure. Richard Jenkins ("The Visitor") plays Hoberg with fierce pride and vulnerability, expertly handling a scene where the humiliated professor asks for his job back. As Fairfield, Allison Janney ("The Help") lends her sharp-tongued brand of steely intelligence to a character type we have seen from her many times.
Once again, Elizabeth Olsen shows how she is shaping a fine career in small indie films - a standout in "Martha Marcy May Marlene", one of the few redeeming features of "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding" and now this assured turn as an open-minded, precocious coed who begins to see Jesse as the soulmate who could transcend their significant age difference. She brings a smart, zestful quality that helps the film glide over its potentially more unsavory moments. John Magaro plays Dean close to the vest since the part appears ill-defined, while Zac Efron is merely distracting playing strictly against type as Nat. Playing what amounts to a convenient plot device, Elizabeth Reaser ("Sweet Land") has a few brief scenes as an age-appropriate bookstore clerk back in New York. Cinematographer Seamus Tierney filmed Radnor's story on the campus of the actor's actual alma mater, Kenyon College, where Janney also graduated. It's a pretty place that will make you become wistful about your own college days.