A movie with a big happy face, “Liberal Arts” sees actor-writer-director Josh Radnor leaning on the sitcom-inflected tendencies that typified his debut, “Happythankyoumoreplease.” Adding an aspect of sylvan academia to the first film’s Gotham setting, Radnor plays a thirtysomething school admissions adviser ready for change, which he finds on a trip back to his alma mater. Containing the requisite number of audience-pleasing scenes that will make this a hot Sundance bidding item with indie-centric distribs, the pic will at least secure Radnor’s next multihyphenate project.

Radnor’s writing is very aware of its audience — how long it’s willing to wait between laughs, how to bolster the comedy with just enough serious incidents and lines, and how to keep things breezy and geared toward a “life is wonderful” conclusion. This makes the film feel perilously close to widescreen sitcom, as do montages of New York set to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.

Jesse (Radnor) gets a chance to flee the big city when he receives an invite from his favorite professor at Ohio’s Kenyon College, Peter (Richard Jenkins), to attend his retirement dinner. Peter’s friends soon introduce Jesse to their 19-year-old daughter, Elizabeth — nicknamed Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) — who’s attending Kenyon and specializing in improv theater. Jesse is struck by Zibby’s take on improv, in which a performer must always say “yes” to a suggestion.

Through a series of scenes, including Peter’s pathetic retirement party and Jesse’s unlikely encounters with manic-depressive intellectual Dean (John Magaro) and painfully kooky Nat (Zac Efron), a blissful slacker full of aphorisms, “Liberal Arts” draws a slick, simplistic overview of college life, to which Jesse feels nostalgically drawn. He also feels he should be over it, but before he heads back to New York, Zibby sends him off with a CD of her favorite classical music and an agreement to send handwritten letters to each other.

Read full review at Chicago Tribune

Why are you posting the ONLY negative review of Liberal Arts and of Zac? Every other review is more positive and everyone else loves Zac, EXCEPT THIS review. That doesn’t make any sense to post on a Zac fansite, imo.

what the hell? why would they write such a bad review–this person must be on something because in no way can Zac be an “annoyance”…he always plays his roles to a tee and with perfection.

wait it seems that’s his characters attitude, maybe he is suppose to be that way for his role, it is acting and sometimes you have to act as a bad person for a role for which zac had gotten that role. we all know that Zac is a nice guy but it seems to me that through the article his character is that bad way not him.

I’m with Dave; the comment doesn’t seem aimed at Zac on a personal level or on an acting level but is a relfection of his character – who the critic finds annoying. Based on what Zac’s character is supposed to be like, I’d find him annoying as heck too. (-:

I dunno-maybe they were referring to his character like you said,but just the way they worded it saying one actor acted well, another was “actorish” and Zac was an “annoyance” seemed to me like they were taking a punch at Zac’s and the other actors’ acting capabilities……

Why thank you, FRUITFLY, its a good feeling when someone agress with me online over an important issue.

They were not taking jabs at zac just explaining his character.

I don’t think this was a “bad” critique of Liberal Arts, but this is like the only review that had anything remotely bad to say about the movie or Zac’s character.