Admission

Well, I saw Admission.  It's another example of my having too high expectations based on those involved and being totally let down.  Tina Fey!  Love her.  She's a comedy goddess.  She is still kind of out of her element as the lead of a film.  I think she should be in some kind of fantastic ensemble movie like Wag the Dog or Broadcast News.  Ok, so yeah, I guess I see her in smart, political, newsy type things, which would be totally typecasting her.  Hmmm...I'll have to think about this more.  Her role in Admission as Portia, a Princeton admissions officer, is still in her scope but I just don't think she should be carrying movies yet. She was one problem.

Another problem was with the plot.  Part of the deal is that she's trying desperately to get a senior at an alternative high school enrolled at Princeton.  If you've seen the trailers then this is not a spoiler: she thinks he's the son she gave up for adoption. The kid, Jeremiah, is quirky and we're told he's smart (5s on 8 AP exams without having taken an AP course and almost perfect SAT scores) but that's about it. Portia spends the bulk of the movie trying to get this kid into Princeton because she sees something in him.  But is there anything to him beyond the fact that she think she owes the kid a chance because of some guilt she has for giving him up years ago?   Oh, he's a ventriloquist too, if that helps.  I can't really get into my full feelings without spoiling the end of the movie so I won't but just know that I had some issues. I will say that it probably could have done more regarding the issue of adoption but it just sort of touched on that subject too.

Portia's love interest was John, played by the utterly adorable and what I wouldn't give to just spend some time with him, Paul Rudd.  The man just gets cuter and more adorable with each movie.  He's the administrator of Jeremiah's school, has an adopted son from Uganda, and is a bit of a vagabond.  I think if the movie might have been more successful if it had been about John and his life.  But it wasn't.

The supporting cast was fine. Lily Tomlin was good but her character was such a stereotype that only showed her layers at the end of the film.  Wallace Shawn is always reliable.  Gloria Reuben of "ER" fame was in it as well and I'm so glad.  When I saw her in Lincoln I realized how much I missed her.  One of the best moments was when I recognized the kid from the television show, "Ed".  The not Justin Long and not Ginnifer Goodwin kid.  So good luck to you, Michael Genadry! You were adorable on Ed, you didn't have enough to do in Admission but here's hoping you get some good roles in the near future!

I guess that's mostly all I have to say.  Oh! They cut some stuff from the trailer, like when the dad chases Portia down with a bundt cake.  In fact, I would have liked to have seen more of the crazy stuff kids and parents do to get into colleges.  I wonder if a lot of that kind of stuff just ended up on the cutting room floor.  Overall the movie was kind of cute, very sweet, but not something I'd rush out to see.