Admission – review

Fans of Tina Fey and 30 Rock will naturally be willing her latest movie to succeed – but, just as naturally, they will see how its screenplay is bafflingly inferior to even the least satisfactory episode of their favourite TV show. Admission is directed by Paul Weitz and adapted from a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz; Fey plays Portia Nathan, who works in the admissions department of Princeton University, placidly pleased with her work sitting in judgment over young hopefuls and their pushy parents, but trapped in a childless, sexless and pretty hopeless relationship with a smug academic, played by Michael Sheen. But while touring high schools to promote the admissions process, she chances across a funkily life-affirming teacher, John Pressman (Paul Rudd), a college contemporary who reveals a secret about Portia that turns her life upside-down. Tina Fey can certainly carry off some touching and tender scenes: actually, 30 Rock never tested her acting in the same way. But the comic material really isn't there, and the plot transitions feel forced and uncomfortable; this isn't as good as, for example, Baby Mama, her underrated romp with Amy Poehler. What we need is a feature project written by and starring Fey and Poehler.