I found myself with an odd “nothing to do” evening yesterday.  As in, I’d already worked out that morning and wasn’t cooking dinner and was suddenly like, “wait, what do I do with myself?!”  So I decided to brave the whole “having to make a Netflix decision” thing and treat myself to a movie.  That was too many quotation marks for once paragraph, wasn’t it?

Anyways, after skipping over a few because “But Joey would like this!” I remembered that Joey watches movies and TV shows without me all the time (I’m still trying to figure out when he even does that!), channeled some independent thinking and chose one called Liberal Arts.  Because A) English major here, B) It was written, directed and starred by Josh Radnor (HIMYM for life!) and C) Because it was about someone who was passionate about reading and literature and thought college was the best.  Um hi, was this movie written just for me?

Okay, quick obligatory synopsis, so you’re not lost during the rest of my movie rambling.  Jesse (Josh Radnor) is a 35-year-old admissions officer in New York but goes back to his alma mater in Ohio to speak at a former professor’s retirement ceremony and meets a sophomore student named Zibby (ugh, don’t even get me started on that name), played by Elizabeth Olsen, and ends up in a relationship with her.  Until he realizes she’s 19 and he’s 35 and that it’s weird when a 35-year-old is hanging out in the dorms and eating in the dining hall.

But the reason I loved the movie, was because I could relate to that whole loving college and feeling lost afterwards thing that Jesse is going through.  There was this scene where Jesse is explaining why he liked college so much and his answer is something like “This is the only time you get to to do this.  To read books all day and spend time discussing ideas.  In the real world, no one’s really doing that.”  And okay, maybe somewhere people are doing that in the real world, but not in my world and I miss it so much!  And also this part where Jesse is talking to his former professor and he tells him “Nobody feels like an adult.  It’s the world’s dirty secret.”  That made me thing “Oh my gosh, is that really true?  It’s not just me?”  So I guess, to make a long story even longer, the total shock of going from a liberal arts education to the real world just really spoke to me.  And it was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

But even if you can’t relate, Josh Radnor is his usual charming self, Elizabeth Olsen is a delight and there’s this incredibly touching side story between Jesse and a struggling student named Dean.  Also, BEST CAMEO EVER by Zac Efron.  And if that’s the biggest take away you got from this post, they hey, I’m not mad at it.