Admission (film)

Last updated
Admission
Admission movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Weitz
Written byKaren Croner
Based onAdmission
by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Produced byPaul Weitz
Kerry Kohansky-Roberts
Andrew Miano
Starring
Cinematography Declan Quinn
Edited byJoan Sobel
Music by Stephen Trask
Production
company
Depth of Field
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date
  • March 22, 2013 (2013-03-22)
Running time
108 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million [2]
Box office$18.6 million [3]

Admission is a 2013 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Paul Weitz and starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. The film was released by Focus Features in the United States and Canada on March 22, 2013. [4] [5] [6] [7] It is an adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz's 2009 novel of the same name.

Contents

Plot

Straight-laced Princeton University Admissions Officer Portia Nathan has vast experience in the coaching, consoling, and criticism involved in Princeton's admission process.

Portia is caught off guard while making a recruiting visit to the Quest School, an alternative high school overseen by her former college classmate, John Pressman. The free-wheeling John teaches while raising Nelson, his adopted pre-teen son. After exposing Portia to outspoken Quest students' impressions of college, he takes her to meet the rather unconventional Jeremiah, a child prodigy.

Back on campus, Portia's longtime boyfriend Mark breaks up with her after impregnating a "Virginia Woolf scholar" named Helen. After an awkward romantic attraction to Pressman, she arranges for Jeremiah to visit Princeton, where she and a colleague, Corinne, are rivals to succeed the soon-to-retire Dean of Admissions.

Portia long ago had a secret pregnancy, putting the baby up for adoption, and is shown a birth certificate by Pressman proving that Jeremiah is hers. Although he is brilliant, Jeremiah's inferior transcript results in his being deemed unfit to attend Princeton. In an act that greatly endangers her position, Portia sneaks into the office at night and changes Jeremiah's rejection to an offer for admission, knowing that –if caught –the Dean of Admissions cannot rescind Jeremiah's already submitted acceptance without creating a scandal. When her actions are exposed, the Dean demands her resignation.

Portia confesses to Jeremiah that she is his biological mother, but he proves that she is incorrect; his photocopied birth certificate has a faded imperceptible digit changing his hour of birth, and he has already located his actual biological mother. Portia appears at the adoption agency, trying to locate her son, where she describes her life with a different perspective. When asked how she would feel to meet her actual child, she replies that she would feel "nervous, but lucky".

In the end, Portia is now dating Pressman, and she receives a letter about her son, which says he is not ready to meet her yet. Pressman points out to her that she is on the waitlist "... and that's not so bad."

Cast

Production

The film was directed by Paul Weitz, known for his work on About a Boy , and was based on the novel of the same name by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The film was shot at the Princeton University campus, Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York,[ citation needed ] and at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. [8] A trailer for the film was released on November 20, 2012. [9] The film was released on March 22, 2013. Admission was the first major motion picture to use RushTera for post-production collaboration.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 37% of 154 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Admission has a pair of immensely likable leads in Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, but it wastes them on a contrived (and clumsily directed) screenplay." [10] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [12]

References

  1. ↑ "ADMISSION (12A)". British Board of Film Classification . 2013-05-20. Archived from the original on 2013-06-15. Retrieved 2013-05-20.
  2. ↑ "Admission (2013)". The Numbers. Archived from the original on September 28, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Admission (2013)". Box Office Mojo . 2013-06-15. Archived from the original on September 28, 2024. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  4. ↑ "Tina Fey, Paul Rudd 'Admission' trailer released – watch | Film & TV News". NME.Com. 2012-11-16. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  5. ↑ "'Admission' Trailer: Tina Fey & Paul Rudd Go Back To School (VIDEO)". Huffington Post. 2012-11-16. Archived from the original on 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  6. ↑ "'Admission' Trailer: Tina Fey And Paul Rudd, Together At Last". News.moviefone.com. 2012-11-16. Archived from the original on 2013-02-11. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  7. ↑ Plait, Phil (2012-11-16). "Admission trailer: Tina Fey and Paul Rudd are going to Princeton. (VIDEO)". Slate.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  8. ↑ Martin Griff/The Times (23 June 2012). "Tina Fey, Paul Rudd movie 'Admission' to film scenes at Princeton University". NJ.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-27. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  9. ↑ "Admission - Official Trailer". YouTube. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  10. ↑ "Admission". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved May 7, 2025. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  11. ↑ "Admission". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  12. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
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