Universities receive thousands of applications every year, so its best for the Princeton staff in Admission not to get too attached to any one candidate. Pity then Tina Fey, starring as an overworked admissions officer who inadvertently discovers a promising college applicant might be the son she gave up for adoption decades ago. Paul Rudd is huggable as the boy's encouraging teacher, while Lily Tomlin steals every scene as Fey's fiercely independent, feminist scholar mother. Adapted from a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz, Admission skirts dangerously close to rom-com conventions. In no small part due to the likeability of its cast, the film's able to rise above those tropes and justify its unfocused heart. We all know Tina Fey's a gifted comedic actress, but she finds new dramatic heights here; honestly portraying a struggling mess of a woman unsure whether to take a second chance on being a mother.
