Liberal Arts Trailer

Following his debut as writer, director slash actor with Happythankyoumoreplease, Josh Radnor, the sometime Ted Mosby, is back with a new film but the same director's beard. When Jesse, a teacher in New York, gets invited back to Ohio to visit his old professor (Richard Jenkins), he meets and falls for a 19 year old student called Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen).

Although his character Ted in How I Met Your Mother has skated dangerously close to becoming the 'Dawson Leary' of his own story, I'd argue that away from the show Josh Radnor's film career is the one to envy. He may not have the Judd Apatow connection like Jason Segel or the eye-catching showmanship of Neil Patrick Harris (most recently seen in The Smurfs), but he's a man in charge of his career, both in front of and behind the camera.

In his directorial outings (Liberal Arts and Happythankyoumoreplease), he's made some smart casting decisions, surrounding himself with talented character actors who'll raise the quality of any movie by at least two notches. Richard Jenkins AND Allison Janney? Mr Mosby, you're spoiling us. But perhaps the most intriguing piece of casting is Elizabeth Olsen, able to free herself from the shackles of familial expectations with her performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Incredibly watchable and precisely the kind of girl a 35 year old teacher would fall for, her presence makes this one of the must watch indies of the autumn.

Liberal Arts is in cinemas September 14th (US) and October 5th (UK).

HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE DVD review

So How I Met Your Mother's Ted Mosby decided to make a movie. But it is any good, or is it the saccharine piece of crap it looks like from the cover? There's only one way to find out.

HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE trailer review

Here's the trailer for Josh 'How I Met Your Mother' Radnor's directorial debut. No-one mention Zach Braff.

A multi strand story about a group of New Yorkers going through existential crises and suffering from mid-20's malaise. It may sound like the plot outline of a million different self-indulgent indie movies, but I'm totally on board for this one, largely due to the cast. This is Josh Radnor's first big screen outing as a writer and director, and the comparisons to Zach Braff's Garden State are unavoidable, but I think this looks interesting enough to get past that. Not that I didn't enjoy Garden State back in 2004, but Braff's career since hasn't done wonders to his film's legacy.

HappyThankYouMorePlease managed to get some good word of mouth at Sundance last year, going on to win the Audience Award for best dramatic feature. It looks like the Malin Akerman surviving cancer thread carries some dramatic weight, but with Tony 'Buster Bluth' Hale featuring also, there's the chance it could be sweetly romantic.

I'll freely admit that I'm a fan of How I Met Your Mother, and hopefully Radnor's picked up some tips there on how to deliver a believable story about dating in the modern world without pushing it too far in the direction of cheesiness. I'm sure Radnor's story is going to feature a romance between him and Kate Mara, while the segment with the lost young boy will surely lead to some Cop and a Half style hijinks. I hope it manages to stay the right side of schmaltz and offer up a few good laughs.


Who knows? This may just be light enough to appeal to a mainstream audience, and the obscure but quotable title alone will be enough to pull in the indie hipster crowd. That's clearly who this film is unashamedly aimed at. The advert at the end of the trailer, telling you to download the song from iTunes, says it all really.


Due March 2011
Anticipation Level