Admission Movie Review (Starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd) #Admission

Admission starring Tina Fey (30 Rock)and Paul Rudd (This is 40) are paired for the first time on-screen in the new comedy/drama directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Weitz (About a Boy, In Good Company), about the surprising detours we encounter on the road to happiness. E

As an admissions officer Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) must evaluate thousands of applicants at Princeton University. One day Clarence (Wallace Shawn), the Dean of Admissions, announces that he is planning to retire thus pitting Portia and her office rival Corinne (Gloria Reuben) to succeed him.

For Portia, however, it’s business as usual as she hits the road on her annual recruiting trip. On the road, Portia reconnects with her iconoclastic mother, Susannah (Lily Tomlin). On her visit to New Quest, an alternative high school, she then reconnects with her former classmate, idealistic teacher John Pressman (Paul Rudd) – who has recently surmised that Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), a gifted yet very unconventional New Quest student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption years ago while at school. Jeremiah is about to apply to Princeton.

Now Portia must re-evaluate her personal and professional existences, as she finds herself bending the admissions rules for Jeremiah, putting at risk the future she thought she always wanted – and in the process finding her way to a surprising and exhilarating life and romance she never dreamed of having.

There is much to like about this movie if only because it doesn’t necessarily end the way you think it will.

Here are my top 5 reasons why I liked Admission:

• The leads – Tina Fey and Paul Rudd are extremely likable and have a chemistry that works well. You believe that they could actually meet cute and date in real life.

•  Stellar supporting cast – From Wallace Shawn as the retiring admissions director to Gloria Reuben as Portia’s rival for the admission director’s job to Lily Tomlin as Portia’s mom to Portia’s boyfriend Michael Sheen (who was also Liz Lemon’s boyfriend on 30 Rock) who dumps her for another professor (Lost’s .)
• I have to give special kudos to Lily Tomlin for her feisty role as Portia’s mom, independent feminist but not exactly the most sympathetic of moms.

 

• This movie will definitely appeal to anyone who has dealt with/been through/or eventually have to help their child with the college admission process. I am not sure why Princeton University was used because you could substitute any top tier college. That said, I loved the humorous or sad (depends on how you look at) application process montage of what it now takes to get into a top notch school. I think most people will tell you that today if they applied they would not get into their alma mater (and I put myself in that category.)
• The underlying adoption theme – this appealed to me for obvious reasons especially since it’s from Portia’s perspective as the birth mother. I think Tina Fey does a great job slowing dealing with the situation of having given up her son when she was in college to the end where she wants to meet him. In addition, John is an adoptive father.

I will admit that if you only see the ads for this movie, don’t be fooled that it’s a strict romantic comedy, but it actually is more of dramedy as I think Paul Weitz movie fans will know (remember About a Boy with Hugh Grant.)

Do I recommend the movie? Yes especially for Tina Fey and Paul Rudd fans, you will not be disappointed.

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Disclosure: NYC Single Mom was invited to Admission Press Day. Click here for NYC Single Mom’s disclosure policy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.