Admission
Directed by: Paul Weitz
Written by: Karen Croner
Starring: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Michael Sheen and Nat Wolff

Your enjoyment of Admission (or lack thereof) will be largely contingent on your tolerance for co-stars Paul Rudd and Tina Fey. I, for one, have not tired of their on-screen antics, and found the film pleasant and sweet; a welcome reprieve from the current sad state of R-rated comedies. Admission eschews the toilet humor so prevalent in romantic comedies today, and actually departs from many of the conventions of the genre, including a tidy Hollywood ending.  There’s something to be said for that.

Tina Fey stars as Portia, an admissions officer at Princeton University who finds her uncomplicated (and boring) life turned upside down when her old classmate John (Paul Rudd) reveals that he has found the son that she gave up for adoption years ago. Complicating matters, the individual in question (Nat Wolff) is now applying to Princeton as a wild card draw. Portia finds herself compromising her job and integrity in order to help her purported offspring, and of course she falls for John in the meantime.

Portia is the epitome of the uptight female character cliché; she’s rigid, career-driven and predictable. She recruits overachieving applicants for the prestige and reputation of Princeton, with little regard for anyone falling outside the parameters of the admissions box.  John, however, teaches in a commune-type environment, encouraging his students to use their collaborative talents to create irrigation systems for third world countries.  He has adopted an orphan boy during his travels, conveniently allowing him to be the so-sweet-he’s-sexy single dad that Portia ultimately falls for.

Fey is appealing, and Rudd is a bit more subtle than usual. I found their pairing to be cute and likable. However, the real reason to see Admission is Lily Tomlin. She is brilliant as Portia’s hippy-dippy mother who wrote a feminist manifesto some years ago.  She’s got a scathing demeanor, is completely devoid of any mothering skills and she provides most of the big laughs in the film. Michael Sheen is also quite good as Portia’s longtime boyfriend who runs off with another staff member from the Princeton literature department. A Virginia Woolf scholar, natch.

Admission uses a little creative license while recreating the inner-workings of the admissions process at an Ivy League school. Still, it’s amusing to see them poke fun at the whole process. While Fey and the other officials are reviewing applicants, a trapdoor engulfs the rejects, while the committee members lobby the hell out of their favorites. Director Paul Weitz (American Pie, Little Fockers) has been hit or miss with his filmography, but Admission is a just a nice, harmless date movie. It doesn’t really break any boundaries, but there are worse ways to spend two hours. – Shannon

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