Admission (2013)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Directed by Paul Weitz, "Admission" stars Tina Fey as Portia Nathan, an Admissions Officer at Princeton University. Portia's highly ordered world comes crashing down when she pays a visit to the Quest School, a small facility which uses unconventional teaching methods to educate children. Here she meets Jeremiah Balakian, a child prodigy who may or may not be her long lost son.At its best, "Admission" contrasts the elitism of Princeton with the humble "holistic" practices of Quest, gives Tina Fey a chance to sink her teeth into a rare dramatic role and touches upon the sad, biological yearnings of mothers. Working better as a drama than a romantic comedy - Fey, primarily a comedian, handles the film's last act tragedies very well - the film co-stars the always awesome Lily Tomlin, and a puppy-dog faced Paul Rudd.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

Admission (2013): Dir: Paul Weitz / Cast: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Michael Sheen, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn: Admission should not be granted to anyone with any common sense. This is a romantic comedy of sorts that stars Tina Fey as an admission counsellor at a university but the title really suggests the news of a son she gave up years ago and is reintroduced to in a shot of possible motherhood. Paul Rudd plays a missions type worker who travels about the world helping orphaned children and such. He contacts Fey with the belief that one of his schooled teens is her son. He desires to enrol him in the university for which she works in hopes that maybe she will take another crack at the mother thing despite the boy's lack of knowledge of it. This becomes very irritating especially with humour that hits inappropriate timing. Fey is a fine comic talent but she is horrible here playing a character who is not only unlikeable but a decision she makes in the conclusion destroys any sympathy for her. Rudd is equally bad as a good hearted sort yet totally lacking in social standing. One poorly aimed joke regards him throwing a horse ornament on the floor. Other roles are also pathetic with not even Lily Tomlin as Fey's crass mother able to surrender any humour. Director Paul Weitz seems to be creating a female version of his About a Boy and floundering badly at it. This is the worst example of his talent. It is as if he was heavy drinking during the shoot. Its message regards a re-introductory to motherhood despite a childless lifestyle. The result is a film that should be admitted to a trash bid. Score: 2 / 10

When Wallace Shawn is turned into an unsympathetic character, you know the movie has problems. Really lame piece of movie making.Tina Fey: Dreadful Paul Rudd: Not funny at all (How is this possible?) Lily Tomlin, like Wallace Shawn, plays a cad.Spoiler alert for this movie: Do not, under any circumstances, watch this movie.Saving grace was the ventriloquist bit for Rene DesCartes; cool dogs and setting of movie. Monty Python's bit about DesCartes (Rene DesCartes was a drunken fart) funnier and more alive.Better to watch paint dry than view this movie.

My wife and I have decided to watch some rom-coms together in the run up to Valentines day. She likes rom-coms and I do not. So at the moment there is a lot of Matthew Mcconaughey movies to get through!However the danger signs were there when our daughter who had previously seen this film on a plane walked up and left the room muttering that it was not very good.The film starts off well enough although we get the plot explained to us very much in the first few minutes. Tina Fey is an admissions officer at the prestigious Princeton College who has to whittle down thousands of applicants each year for the relatively few places available. She meets an ex student from her past, Paul Rudd who has started a radical new college which contains a promising but troubled student who might be her son who she gave up for adoption.The trouble with the movie is that it's neither romantic nor a comedy. I understand the problems of an Ivy League university being oversubscribed and they simply must choose people who will be good students and mix with collegiate life at the campus and reject a lot of others. Although Rudd's students do make a point that admissions officers to these type of places tend not to favour people from poor, working class and ethnic minority backgrounds.The biggest problem I had was that this rather dull, middling film just took a dive by the end. It could not for example tell the difference that 1:00 am, two hours after 11:00 pm cannot be 1:00 pm and seems not to be too clued up about birth certificates.I realised when the end credits came on that I had actually thinking about suicide during the final part of the movie. Now I did say earlier that I am not a fan of rom-coms but come on this is a deserved bomb.