Film Review: Tina Fey Difficult to Get Into in ‘Admission’

Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 22, 2013 - 1:17am

CHICAGO – Tina Fey, love her. Paul Rudd, like his work, he’s a Judd Apatow guy. Wallace Shawn in “The Princess Bride,” exquisite. Lily Tomlin is a comedy legend. All these great and interesting performers participated in “Admission,” for which they all get an “F.”

Rating: 2.0/5.0

“Admission” takes us into the scintillating world of assessing who will be the Freshman class at Princeton University. This subject would seem to be ripe for parody in this age of super aggressive helicopter parents and overachieving, socially inept scholars – but no – it is a limp romantic melodrama light on the romance. It features Tina Fey in her first role post Liz Lemon and “30 Rock,” but literally gives her nothing to do but pout, sigh and pretend her character wasn’t created from a screenwriter’s wheel of fortune. Paul Rudd is weirdly cast as a do-gooder who has traveled the world, adopted a Ugandan orphan and runs a progressive secondary school. Oh, that side of Paul Rudd we’ve been aching to see. Nobody comes out of the this film without some minor embarrassment, this is the cinematic equivalent of a dead fish handshake, wet hand and all.

Portia (Tina Fey) is a hard-charging admissions official at old Princeton U. She is well respected, and has a proper 10 year relationship with her live-in lover Mark (Michael Sheen). She gets involved with a potential Princeton candidate named Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) who goes to a progressive high school run by John Pressman (Paul Rudd). It is revealed her relationship with Jeremiah is a little deeper, and could compromise her objectivity as admissions officer.

After coming home from a recruiting trip, Mark decides to leave her for another woman, and Portia’s buttoned-up life begins to unravel. Her mother Susannah (Lily Tomlin) is no help, and John Pressman is putting on more pressure to get Jeremiah into Princeton. When it comes down to picking this Freshman class, admissions officer Portia has more than she bargained for.

“Admission” opens everywhere on March 22th. Featuring Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn, Gloria Reuben, Michael Sheen, Nat Wolff and Lily Tomlin. Screenplay adapted by Karen Croner. Directed by Paul Weisz. Rated “PG-13”