Jesse, the character played by Josh Radnor (who also wrote and directed the film), has stayed in academia but surely in its least pleasant job. He is a New York City college admissions officer, turning young people away at the gates of Valhalla. He receives an invitation to a retirement party for Peter (Richard Jenkins), a professor who was one of his undergraduate heroes. Jesse returns to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, a campus so beautiful I now understand why I subscribed to the Kenyon Review for years: Its pages must have absorbed the grace of the campus.
The retirement is far from perfect, because Peter has to admit to himself that he has no desire to retire. Richard Jenkins is the kind of actor you can easily imagine being someone's beloved mentor and understand why he would surrender that role with reluctance. At a party, he introduces Jesse to Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a 19-year-old daughter of friends, who is studying improv theater. Did I mention that Jesse is 35?
It's not so much that they fall in love as they fall in love with idealistic conversation. Zibby still lives in a world where such talk is common. Jesse is starved for it. The fresh promise of his undergraduate years has never been replaced for him by the working world. Their 16-year age difference is undeniable, but the young student finds his age to be one of his attractions, as young students have been known to do.
Also on the campus, we meet two familiar types. One is Nat (Zac Efron), who wears a deliberately absurd hat to signal "I am not like anyone else," and utters philosophical aphorisms as if he is the campus Thoreau. The other is Dean (John Magaro), never seen without holding a copy of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. It is to Radnor's infinite credit that he never explains why the novel is a telltale character marker.
We also meet Judith (Allison Janney), Jesse's professor of romantic poetry and another huge role model. Janney brings to the character that acerbic wit she does so easily, and they have a scene together I wouldn't dream of spoiling for you.
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