Straitlaced Princeton University admissions officer, Portia Nathan is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by her former college classmate, the freewheeling John Pressman. Pressman has surmised that Jeremiah, his gifted yet very unconventional student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago.
Granted, this is not automatic laugh-riot material, nor should it be, but didn't Fey recognize how hackneyed it all is?
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
22 Mar 2013
rotten:
This is certainly an interesting idea, though the movie is badly handicapped by Fey, who must venture beyond her usual snippiness into scenes of genuine poignancy and proves unequal to the task.
– J. R. Jones,
Chicago Reader,
22 Mar 2013
rotten:
What is most distressing about Admission is that it serves as further evidence that Tina Fey, despite her dominance of the small screen, has not yet mastered the big one.
– Christopher Orr,
The Atlantic,
22 Mar 2013
rotten:
The many strands of this amiable yet overstuffed romantic comedy don't hang together, though each, on its own, has a modest charm.
– Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
1 Apr 2013
rotten:
At the heart of the problem with this movie are matters of logic and cogency.