Admission

Cast: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Gloria Reuben
Director: Paul Weitz

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd are two of my favorite people in comedy. Paul Rudd has been making his rounds in the comedy genre, and while some of his movies weren't my favorite, his performance excels through and through. Tina Fey has this knack for writing and for delivering her lines. I've followed 30 Rock because of her. When she worked with Steve Carell and made Date Night, that spurned out gold. They're both good in their craft and they work well together. A Tina Fey and Paul Rudd movie should probably do the same. They're both great comedians and with the right story, this pairing can be gold. Unfortunately, that's not the case with Admissions.

The movie is simple: Portia Nathan is an admissions officer in Princeton, so it her responsibility to choose which students are best to be accepted at their prestigious university. She had lived a simpler life, until a visit to a developmental high school where the principal (who happens to graduate at the same school as she did) tells her that she might be the mother of a unique student in his school. Working with that premise, she runs the risk of damaging her professional career as she helps the student get into Princeton. 

The entire plot screams plot holes. It looked as it were going nowhere, and everything is a jumble of scenes waiting to make sense. It doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to show a transition of characters in terms of becoming a mother? Is it an instructional video on how to get in Princeton? Is this parodying a Princeton admissions scandal*? While it does aim to tell the story of Portia Nathan, it has failed to create a solid plot, making her life points fall into pieces. 

Portia Nathan herself is flawed. Many scenarios can be played out before she even do the things she does, including jeopardizing her career. For someone who was supposed to be an intellect and logical, she has lost all rational thinking. What she did throughout the movie was out of character. The only premise she had for doing those things she did were words, and from a person she doesn't even know. I think the only reason they might have chosen Tina Fey to do this is because she looks the part. She's funny, but nothing in this movie showcased her ability to do comedy. Even this fails for a drama.

While Paul Rudd is more experienced in romantic comedies, he took a major backslide for this one. I felt that he played a supporting role, instead of being a co-lead with Fey. His story was mainly to support Fey's, and possibly add some screen time and character depth to his already limited character. His role could have been played by anyone else, and he could have done much more with his character if he was given more material to work with. Granted this was based off a book, thus his limited material. 

A Paul Rudd and a Tina Fey movie that might work and showcase their talent can be a romantic comedy. It might be typical, but with the right script and the right craziness, it might work. This just didn't. They were given weak material to work with, and they did what they can with it. It's not their best (probably one of their worst), and this wasn't the movie for them. 

*I don't know if this is true though.