Admission 2013

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Another formulaic spin on Hollywood's 21st century discovery, the mom-rom-com, with its disagreeable underlying messages about women, careers and motherhood. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Everybody in "Admission" is funny - Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn - but they're not funny in "Admission." Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: If Fey ends up making movies as good as this one over the next few years, television's loss will have been cinema's gain, for real. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: [Fey and Rudd] are fun to watch, though not as much fun as they might have been in a riskier, crazier movie. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Fey has the Sandra Bullock role -- exactly the kind of part that she has spent the last decade transcending. She's not bad in it, though. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Only Mr. Rudd emerges unscathed. He protects himself by being consistently affable in the face of heavy odds. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A genial, predictable and ultimately forgettable romantic comedy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: An often pleasant, faintly comedic drama that too often struggles to find its tone. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: What appears on paper to be an ideal three-dimensional, morally complex role for the quick-witted comedienne backfires in practice, relying on Fey to be funny in a movie that works better serious. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It never quite lives up to its potential. But there's value to be found in its meandering. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: You could call it a dramedy, I guess, but that manufactured term suggests a blending of the two elements. Here they exist almost as separate genres squeezed into the same movie. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Cheerful, skittish entertainment that never takes its subject seriously enough. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: 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. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: There's a good movie in this story. The one that got made is roughly half-good. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Granted, this is not automatic laugh-riot material, nor should it be, but didn't Fey recognize how hackneyed it all is? Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: When in doubt, ma'am, just ask yourself: What would Tina Fey do? Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: There have been so many shrill, dumb, rinky-dink romantic comedies that it's easy to feel downright grateful when a smart, non-cheesy one comes along. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Equal parts amiable and weightless, tough to take seriously and yet light on honest laughs. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: At the heart of the problem with this movie are matters of logic and cogency. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Paul Weitz betrays an erratic grip on the comic tone, and the misguided central characters emerge, in the end, as less likeable than they ought to be. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: What should be a hilarious, long-overdue pairing of two hugely likable, superstar comedians ends up being a major disappointment with "Admission." Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It promisingly pairs Fey with the dreamy-funny Paul Rudd, though they generate warmth without ever catching fire. The bigger problem is the story they're in. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The many strands of this amiable yet overstuffed romantic comedy don't hang together, though each, on its own, has a modest charm. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: You'll be glad you enrolled. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: Admission settles for skin deep. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This thin envelope of a comedy checks all the boxes for being a phoned-in, phony, padded rom-com. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Director Weitz doesn't come close to pulling off the film's drastic tonal shifts, but at least it's an improvement over his last two films ... Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Fey and Rudd achieve a couple of comedy mindmelds ... but they're fleeting, as Admission's outlandish contrivances continue to get in the way. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Infused with an almost relentless blandness, it's defined by soft comedy (a few laughs here and there), flaccid drama, and likeable actors. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: "Admission" has some sublime moments, most of them involving Fey and Rudd dancing around their inevitable romance. The problem is in the foundation. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: I'd see Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in anything, but this is pushing it. Admission is so slight that a breeze could flatten it. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: You can take the kids, you can take grandma; everyone will be ever so slightly entertained. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: This would be a good movie for a parent to watch with a high-school-age child facing down the college admissions slog-it's mildly snarky but resolutely uncynical. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: While most college-themed comedies aim for low-SAT yucks, "Admission" tosses out jokes and cultural references that aim higher. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Admission" is one film you may not want to get into. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: 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. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Some films are electric - Admission settles for alternating current. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: When Admission stumbles, which it does often, aiming low for easy laughs at the price of missed opportunities to go deeper, the picture lays there uninspired, like a slice of boiled ham. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Would that Fey had been as choosy and critical about the screenplay as her character is about personal essays attached to applications to Princeton University. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Another half-success spoiled by tonal uncertainty. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Admission doesn't have the courage to suggest that a childless woman who's doing work she loves just may have it all-or at least her all. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: In their central roles, Rudd and Fey have a natural, unforced chemistry. John and Portia are cute as buttons, but they're also goofy, confused and flawed people. Read more