Admission - Review

Admission
(2013 - March 22)
Comedy
1 hr. 57 min.

Rated: PG-13  Language and some sexual material  Read more
Grade: C-

Director: Paul Weitz
Writers: Karen Croner (screenplay), Jean Hanff Korelitz (novel)
Stars: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Nat Wolff | See full cast and crew

Tina Fey (Date Night, 30 Rock) and Paul Rudd (I Love You Man, Knocked Up) star in Admission, the new film directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Weitz (About a Boy), about the surprising detours we encounter on the road to happiness. Straight-laced Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan (Fey) is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by her former college classmate, the free-wheeling John Pressman (Rudd). Pressman has surmised that Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), his gifted yet very unconventional student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago. Soon, Portia finds herself bending the rules for Jeremiah, putting at risk the life she thought she always wanted--but in the process finding her way to a surprising and exhilarating life and romance she never dreamed of having.

Here we go again, another film that has promise but fails to deliver. Yes, Portia (Tina Fey) is very attractive but that's about it. For all the hype of how funny Miss Fey is she fails to deliver in Admission, at the very best hit and miss. There is no believable chemistry between Portia and John Pressman (Paul Rudd). Now Mr. Rudd is nowhere as handsome as Miss Fey is pretty but he is far and away more genuine and sympathetic.

The supporting characters are paper thin and humorless stereotypes. The two boys, Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) and Nelson (Travaris Spears) John's adopted son from Uganda, turn in performances as strong as any of the adults. If you were looking forward to a triumphant comedic return to the screen by Lily Tomlin, you're out of luck, she is acerbic, foul mouthed and decidedly unfunny. Everyone, save the kids, gets to use profanity including some F bombs as per the current Hollywood norm.

Everyone seems to be uncaring, deceitful and self absorbed. Portia's bending the rules and falsifying admission records to help Jeremiah (Nat Wolf) get accepted to Princeton, the applicant whom she believes to be the baby she gave up for adoption. We are supposed to be sympathetic to her dishonesty since she has 'good intentions'.

Hopping into bed with someone you just met is portrayed as acceptable and normal and marriage is for losers and fools; wealthy white people are racist alcoholics; liberals are compassionate, mentally superior and liberated from any moral obligations; these are the values portrayed in this shallow screenplay. Rudd walks away from this lazy and very forgettable romantic comedy a bit less sullied than the others but that's not saying much.

There is absolutely no reason this film couldn't have been made without the foul language and cheap sexual innuendo. Some critics have said this is a great film for parents to see with their teens about to apply for college admissions. Why would you want to depress them by seeing a film that says admissions are so arbitrary, capricious or fixed. Nice way to depress them.

In all fairness and to be completely honest, there were a couple of chuckles present for myself and the two other people in the audience but one chuckle per hour does not a classic comedy make.

At work behind the scenes with director Paul Weitz

Cast

    Paul Rudd                     Tina Fey     

  John Pressman                       Portia Nathan

Wallace Shawn          Gloria Reuben           Lily Tomlin   

Clarence                                Corinne                             Susannah

       Nat Wolff             Travaris Spears   

   Jeremiah                              Nelson  

This Is 40 - Review

This Is 40
(2012 - December 21)
Comedy
134 min.

Rated: R Sexual content and situations; brief nudity; vulgar, crude and crass conversation, strong language including F-bombs from all characters including children: What parents should know
Grade: D-

Director: Judd Apatow Writer: Judd Apatow Stars: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann and Maude Apatow | See full cast and crew

A look at the lives of Pete and Debbie a few years after the events of Knocked Up.

I never saw Knocked Up, if I had it would have saved me 2 hrs. and 14 min. of my life.  This film is base, vile, degenerate, prurient, a decidedly UNFUNNY comedy a complete waste of talent and more importantly an absolute waste TIME! There is nothing wrong with the premise, it could have been an interesting examination of family life but unfortunately had to take the Hollywood easy way out of sinking to the most base, prurient trash, devolving to the lowest common denominator available and of course what would we do without the endless profanity (well, in the case of this film, the script would be cut by 40 to 50%). This is 40 is about a horrible family, horrible parents, horrible grandparents and horrible children, all self absorbed, hedonistic, reprobates. The same can be said for writher/director Judd Apatow, what a miserable excuse for an adult, who subjected his two young daughters to this cesspool of filth by casting them as the family's two children.

The only thing that spares This Is 40 an 'F' Grade is that it is in well made from a technical standpoint such as it is in focus, costumes, lighting and staging are to industry standards, etc. I can't honestly recommend this film to anyone

Cast

 Paul Rudd              Leslie Mann

     Pete                                 Debbie

Maude Apatow           Iris Apatow  

      Sadie                               Charlotte

Albert Brooks          John Lithgow

Grandpa Larry                Grandpa Oliver