'ADMISSION'

'ADMISSION' (PG-13) (RENTAL)

Written by Karen Croner based on the novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Directed by Paul Weitz
Actors: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Nat Wolff, Wallace Shawn

Sometime an actor can elevate a movie whose story is weak and just too implausible. There have been many times I am not just getting a movie and I become frustrated but one actor in the film keeps me interested despite the movie failing. Tina Fey has become an iconic comedic actress from "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock". Sometimes an actress doesn't make that leap successfully from the TV screen to the movie screen. I think Tina Fey has what it takes because so far I think she has picked good projects that can showcase her gifts. I liked her in "Date Night" and liked the movie, I also liked her in "Baby Mama" and liked the movie. You can now add her to the list occupied by Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Kristen Wiig and Adam Sandler of "SNL" talents who are successful in motion pictures. Like that list Tina Fey can be in a really patience testing movie like "Admission" and make it bearable, even better than it should be.

"Admission" has Tina Fey playing Portia Nathan who is a Princeton Admissions Officer and she is very good at picking out promising students for this prestigious school. I don't know if I believed that Fey could be convincing as this type of character at first but in the end I forgot about that. She is called by small high school director John Pressman to visit his school to check out a promising student. This student has a terrible grade point average but he has very high scores in the SATs and admission exams. The plot will expose who this student really is and if you have seen the trailers you know what that is. The movie will turn into a romantic comedy as Portia and John will become attracted to each other.

The plot of "Admission" can be very safe and implausible in many spots, enough to make me cringe sometimes. As Portia gets deeper into finding out about this special kid and trying to get him into Princeton there were times when the things she does and what happens in the process ring false. Then in the final 15 minutes there is a move that this charcater pulls that just made me shake my head. First it could never have been realistically pulled off and it just is plain wrong, no one would do what she does. Besides all those problems I couldn't keep my eyes off of Fey. This is a performance that is quick, smart, funny and charming. Then Fey is required to execute some dramatic scenes and she proves she can even be a great dramatic actress. She can do anything and I just loved watching her and then seeing how the screenplay and story couldn't catch up to her.

She is above this material but also she can keep you interested throughout even when the movie makes you want to walk out on it. There is also the factor that I have a huge man crush on her co star Paul Rudd who is very good here too and works very well with Fey, their chemistry is very good. Rudd has the less showy role than Fey and less emotions to play so I can't say he does what Fey does here. Though he gives another likeable, winner of a performance and seeing two of my favorites in a romantic comedy together is a bonus even though the romance part is weakly written also.

This is the type of movie where the actors rise above the material making a weak movie seem like it is really working on you. I love watching Fey and I also got the extra bonus of seeing Fey play off of one of my absolutely favorite comedianes in Lily Tomlin. Tomlin is a comedy idol to me and even the weak material she is given here is made more tolerable by her gifts also. I remember seeing "9 to 5" in theaters about 10 times when I was a kid becuase I wanted to see Tomlin again and again, her performance in that movie is an under rated, genius performance of an iconic pro feminist character (one of the strongest in movies). So Fey and Tomlin together, Fey's winning performance and her chemistry with Rudd make this a movie to watch on DVD. The movie fails them so a visit to a theater is not reccomended but to see Fey knock it out of the park and work her magic it should be checked out at home.