Admission

Plot: Portia (Tina Fey) is an admissions officer at Princeton, and high school principal John (Paul Rudd) invites her speak at his school, which is progressive, rural and odd. Portia falls for John. Almost immediately John brings senior Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) to Princeton and tells Portia something that I won't reveal here, but Portia tries hard to get Jeremiah into Princeton. This leads to funny sitcom situations. There is a subplot with Portia's mom (Lily Tomlin) who is a hard-core 1960's feminist.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This is a well-written story that primarily features sitcom humor in embarrassing situations. The film has a ironic, wry tone that I liked. I like relationship-based humor, and there are many cringe-worthy situations which are hard to watch because the audience knows more than the characters.  

Tina Fey does a great job playing a neurotic every-woman who gets trapped in circumstances. I am not so fond of Paul Rudd, who seemed generic. I thought Susannah, Lily Tomlin's character,was inspired, but Lily Tomlin herself was just OK. 

I really liked the admission committee meeting because of the all the relationships between people at the table. I have been at meetings like that. Director Weitz did a great job of capturing it -- very clever. 

Cast: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, 

Directed by: Paul Weitz based on the novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Rating: 2.5 stars:  pretty funny, good dialog -- it just does not feel like 3 stars. 

 

More:  I liked Mom's Bella Abzug tattoo. No one in the world has a Bella Abzug tattoo, but it was very funny to have it on Susannah. 

Even More: DW Jenny says, it is "Admissions" in more ways than one because the characters are admitting things about themselves. 

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