It seems to me that Josh Radnor's problem is…
-
movie_fan59 — 13 years ago(September 16, 2012 08:03 AM)
How do you know that the characters he wrote in "Liberal Arts" and his prior film are what you say they are without having seen them?
If you hate people who do what you're doing, why are you doing it yourself?
"Liberal Arts" has almost no political statement/message/meaning. You can assume that Radnor's character is a liberal because he has a liberal arts education and that he works in a college admissions office, but there is a complete absence of political discussion and imagery.
He's not particularly "hipster" in his tastes. He wears ordinary looking, generic clothing. He has eclectic tastes in reading and a love of books. He learns to appreciate classical music more.
See the movie before making in-depth judgments about how the characters are written. It's just as unfair to bash a movie without seeing it as it is to bash the construction of a movie's characters on the same basis.
Jules Winnfield: "I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" -
BassmanUW82681 — 13 years ago(September 17, 2012 10:16 AM)
So are you telling me that either the Josh Radnor character in Happythankyourmoreplease or this movie are not very similar characters to Ted Mosby? If you are telling me that, I might be more interested in seeing this movie. But I have the odd feeling that they are very similar, considering you didn't contest that fact.
-
thestupidpenguin — 13 years ago(October 05, 2012 05:08 PM)
No he pretty much is the same character, without the flashbacks of teen Mosby. It's still a good film in my opinion, I am an english speaker though. I would say that HIMYM is a comedy while this is a drama.
-
Jutlander — 10 years ago(April 21, 2015 09:35 AM)
This is extremely close to Ted, I think.
In the movie they have a conversation about vampire novels that would have fit seamlessly into
How I Met Your Mother
.
And the delivery of his line when first meets his old professor and he awkwardly tells her that he liked his class was sppot-on Mosby.
I liked the movie, though. -
driver_hair_dawg — 13 years ago(October 11, 2012 02:52 AM)
I saw HappyThankYouMorePlease and yes, he was basically a toned down version of Ted Mosby and I did not enjoy the film all that much. This movie sounds more promising though, but I don't doubt he is basically another Ted Mosby incarnation in this film.
-
zooymtoo — 13 years ago(December 09, 2012 06:35 AM)
Hmm. I liked the movie and his character in the movie. I think he has a good screen presence.
I also didn't know who he was at first. I don't watch "How I met your Mother" but my contention is that he's wasting himself in a network sitcom. -
andre_te — 13 years ago(December 09, 2012 01:36 PM)
I haven't watched his first movie. But I do know HIMYM and Liberal Arts.
And I must agree to that, cause he's like the same person just some sort of a boring way of it. I cant remember that he smiled more than one or two times somewhere at the end.
I'd also love to see him in more intersting roles than this one. And if I should compare roles, I'd prefer Aaron Stanford for such a role !!!!
offtopic:
I pretty much liked Elizabeth Olsen again, she's one of the most improving actresses this year and she performed so well in every of her movies.
But.. there are weird and unrealistic happenings going on in the storyline of Liberal Arts that I cant give it a higher rate than 5! -
cloudshoveller — 13 years ago(December 29, 2012 09:59 PM)
Well answered Zongonutssalmon! I found myself marvelling many times throughout Liberal Arts at the vocal tone that Josh Radnor used for this character. It was so different from Ted Mosby I was wondering if it hurt his throat?!
I think that people would probably like to see Radnor play something radically different then Tedperhaps a villain character. I read an interview where Josh said that as individuals we all have the choice to plant flowers or weeds and he prefers to avoid gossip and negativity and put out things that are positive.
His two movies have been uplifting. I would compare them more to a leisurely long lunch with good friends then to a steak dinner out on the town. -
rruckuser — 13 years ago(December 30, 2012 11:20 AM)
I just finished watching Liberal Arts and I'm a huge fan of HIMYM but I honestly don't see much similarity between the characters. Yes there are the things you listed, those are all there, but reallythat's it.
Ted's neurotic. He's obsessive. And he has an overall lack of confidence that he makes up for by being pretentious and showing off how much he knows because he thinks it makes him look better. He's a great guy when it gets down to it, but he never seems quite sure of the fact he's a great guy so he tries far too hard to be "great" and "interesting".
Jesse on the other handis more of just an average guy. He dresses like any other guy. And just happens to have a love for classic literature and learns to love classic music. His life didn't go the way he planned so he's depressed and a little lostbut he certainly isn't very snooty in what he likes (the only time that came out at all was in the clear digs at Twilight). Jesse strikes me a lot more as someone who really existsthe guy that was smart and loved learning and thought that after college, life would open up to himand then it didn't so now he feels stuck. Hell, that's where I am. -
nereidon — 13 years ago(January 24, 2013 04:49 AM)
He writes about something he knows. A mistake of most writers is they dont. and he does it very well, the dialogues are excellent and the characters very believable and easy to relate to. Maybe it is time for him to make more experiences and broaden his perspective, but for he has done so far i cant blame him.
" People being stupid is not a plot hole " - by redwingjs
-
emvan — 13 years ago(March 29, 2013 12:31 AM)
As a huge HIMYM fan, I wondered whether this might be a problem. And then there's a moment early in the film (when his character is in the car with his professor) that's so un-Ted Moseby-like that it completely stopped being an issue. I haven't seen his first film, but it seems that in this one he went out of his way to write and play a character that was very different.
Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen. -
whiskeyrebellionband — 12 years ago(September 02, 2013 05:49 PM)
The way I see it is that he was attracted to playing Ted Mosby because it was a character similar to himself. And I think that the films he has written reflect that. A writer can only write what he knows well.
-
nikkiten1979 — 12 years ago(November 14, 2013 12:02 PM)
I'm not sure I understand your point Radnor's character in LA is not at all hipster. This guy is actually smart and intellectual without pretending that he is so. Hipsters dress like nerds with diva attitudes, have lower IQ, but want to pretend that they're smarter and more intellectual than they really are. Hipsters PRETEND; Josh Radnor's character doesn't pretend who he is. He is an educated man in his mid 30s.
(_)
can't outrun your own shadow -
Rynobro — 12 years ago(November 29, 2013 12:05 PM)
Actually, I would say the character of Ted Mosby is very much like Radnor, which is why he was so great in that role in the beginning, and as such, the main characters he writes are similar to Ted, because they're much like himself. It could be an issue for himself as a writer, especially when How I Met Your Mother comes to an end. To really thrive, he'll have to learn to write from a perspective outside of his own.
That said, I enjoyed both of his films. Neither were particularly great, but were fairly enjoyable, and entertaining enough. I would have to say HappyThankYouMorePlease is a film that shows his most promise as a writer and director. The film really has no main character, so each character is developed properly and their stories are relatively well balanced. Liberal Arts had pretty well developed characters as well, but while it was a better film, it felt much safer, and almost a bit cliched. Overall, I think he's not without talent. He just needs his next project to be a little riskier, and work a bit more outside of his comfort zone. I'd compare him to Woody Allen, where a majority of his lead characters are himself. Overall, it not a bad person to be compared to, but there's a reason why a third of his films never see wide release.