Admission
Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 35
  3. Negative: 4 out of 35
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  1. Slant Magazine
    Mar 11, 2013
    38
    The estrogenic elements prove widely ineffectual, but they're just pieces of this overlong, overloaded misfire whose double-entendre title ultimately just goads the jaded viewer to admit defeat.
  2. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Gabe Toro
    Mar 19, 2013
    33
    It’s as if Weitz knows he’s got a corpse of a film on his hands -- never trust a movie when it feels as though you can see the director clasping the defibrillator.
  3. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Mar 21, 2013
    30
    Nobody doesn't like Tina Fey, and anyone aware of her starring role in Admission will be wishing her well. But wishing won't make this dramedy any less dreary than it is.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Mar 21, 2013
    20
    The bad news about Admission is that this thin envelope of a comedy checks all the boxes for being a phoned-in, phony, padded rom-com.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. mds03
    4
    It had it's humorous and entertaining moments, but there were not enough of them. It starts out to be decent, then it kind of loses your attention as you start wondering when it's gonna end and you get bored. Let's face it, the movie had no point in being made and I have no idea why it was.… Full Review »
  2. ReeceLeonard
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. I just want to start off by saying that, if you can get me to dislike a movie that Tina Fey stars in, you’ve really, really done something wrong. (Honestly, with me being completely objective here; she deserved a much better film for the performance she gave. It’s a shame.)

    The film starts off with Tina as “Portia”, an uptight admissions officer at Princeton, who also happens to be in an unhappy relationship with Wesley Snipes (seriously, the character IS Wesley Snipes) who thinks of her as a faithful companion and nothing more (multiple unfunny dog jokes are made). He’s unbearable and once the storyline inevitably separates the two of them so she can find her other, equally as annoying “love” in Paul Rudd, it irritatingly feels the need to make him pop up randomly at the end of almost every great dramatic scene Tina has to ruin them with an unfunny recurring gag. (Side note, he leaves with Penny from LOST. It was kinda cool seeing her, although I was disappointed by the lack of anyone shouting “brotha!” in her proximity.)

    Eventually Portia meets Paul Rudd’s character, a pretentious with a *gasp!* black kid and a need to travel (so quirky!) who brings her out to his hipster alternative school to be ridiculed by his students as a sadist who represents Princeton, AKA the education system, AKA the establishment, AKA something for a bunch of idiot teens to complain about. The whole scene is unbearable, and from that point on it’s almost impossible to feel for the guy. Oh, and he thinks his supposed prodigy of a student (the kid from The Naked Brothers Band) is her son she gave up for adoption as a teen, and feels for some reason that it’s his job to get them together. The whole thing is a little ridiculous, but with better direction and dialogue, it could’ve worked. Sadly, it’s all poorly shot and amateurishly edited, something not even Tina Fey can save a movie from.

    All that withstanding, it’s not terrible. The look into the admissions process is actually fascinating and could’ve made for a great movie. There were a couple of good scenes (one including some fantastic work by Tina, whose performance in this was absolutely one befitting a much better film), and you do care for some of these characters, especially Portia, but that’s about it. It was all over the place tonally, and I mean ALL over the place. The movie has no idea whether it supports the admissions process or wants to challenge the standards of approval and it’s comedy elements seemed forced while the dramatic scenes that weren’t saved by Tina or Lily Tomlin (who was also great in this) are contrived and ludicrous. In the end, I think this should’ve been a pure drama with a lot of the excess plot trimmed off to make a much tighter movie. It could’ve worked. End the end, yes, I’ll end up purchasing this to support Tina, but I know for a fact I’ll never, ever watch it again. Well… I might, but only to see Tina cry like a pro.    … Full Review »
  3. Gearhead409
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. A few funny moments (for example, the "chicken" scene) and a mildly interesting main plot, both they both fail to get in the way of a complex, horribly generic side plot (the whole ordeal about Jeremiah being Portia's long-lost child, and also that whole ordeal about Michael Sheen's character admitting he had sex with that Virginia Woolf scholar who I can't be bothered to name right now) which is so present throughout the movie that it makes the whole thing boring and sleep-worthy.… Full Review »
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