“Admission” has been promoted as a romantic comedy. It stars Tina Fey and Mr. Rom-Com himself: Paul Rudd (seriously, look at his IMDb page). But, in truth, “Admission” isn’t what the trailers and commercials tried to make it out to be. In fact there may not be a genre for this film.
Fey plays Portia, an admissions officer at Princeton University. She and the other members of the department decide the fates of high school seniors who have applied to the school and desperately want their applications to be accepted. Early in the film we follow Portia as she travels to several schools, telling eager students that the best way to get into Princeton is to “be yourself”. The Dean of Admissions (played by Wallace Shawn) informs everyone that Princeton has just dropped to #2 on the list of best Universities in the country and therefore the admission team needs to come up with a special class of freshmen for the following year. He also announces that he’s retiring and Portia wants the job.
But first, she’s got to tackle much more important issues: Her relationship with longtime boyfriend (Michael Sheen) may not be as solid as she thinks. Then she meets John (Rudd), who teaches at an alternative learning school. He quickly informs her that one of his students named Jeremiah is her biological son that she gave up for adoption at birth. And Jeremiah just so happens to really want to attend Princeton, even though he’s not a great student.
Should she tell him that she’s his mother? Should she help him get into Princeton, even though it’s against the rules? And John’s got plenty of issues of his own, including with his adopted son. And what the heck is Lily Tomlin doing with tattoos? She pops-up as Portia’s wacky mom who lives alone in the woods.
The first hour of “Admission” is a lot of set-up mixed with some corny scenes and awkward situations, which is pretty much what I was expecting. Then the film takes a dramatic turn, as the relationship problems involving all of the characters start piling-up. And the twists start coming – some work and others fail badly.
Overall, there are a couple of major problems with “Admission”: #1 – the script is packed with too many unnecessary subplots. It’s easy to see that it’s based on a novel but the mistake screenwriter Karen Croner makes is trying to jam all these different situations from the book into a 2-hour movie. There’s even a running joke involving Sheen and another woman that shouldn’t even qualify as a running joke – because it’s never funny.
Secondly, because of this lack of focus “Admission” has no identity. Is it a light romantic comedy? A dramedy with heart? A relationship drama? A message film on the current state of higher education? One moment it tries to be silly, the next it is deeply serious. Director Paul Weitz does take a few chances but the whole thing just never comes together.
Rudd is solid, though he really doesn’t have much to do but deliver some basic dialogue and, in one scene that’s supposed to show that he’s this great teacher and humanitarian, assists a cow in giving birth. Nat Wolff (once part of Nickelodeon’s “Naked Brothers Band”) doesn’t overplay the role of Jeremiah. Tomlin, once one of the greatest comedians in show business, doesn’t have one funny line. Gloria Reuben, fresh-off her standout performance in “Lincoln”, plays Portia’s admissions department rival (yes, another subplot). The best performance in the film goes to Fey, who handles herself well in a couple of the key, well-staged dramatic scenes. But if you’re expecting her to be “30 Rock”/co-host of the Golden Globes funny you’re out of luck.
“Admission” is rated PG-13 for language and some adult material. It’s appropriate for teens and up.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Admission” gets a C. And, as usual, it comes down to the script, which should have been DENIED before this film went into production.