My Review of the Trailer for Admisson

November 21, 2012 | News

When I saw that Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz was being made into a book, I was hopeful. The book was not perfect, but I did enjoy it. What I saw as the book’s main fault (the constant droning on about Princeton), could be easily trimmed by a movie script, letting the genuinely interesting and dramatic core of the story shine through. However, when I read a few months ago that Tina Fey and Paul Rudd were going to be the stars of the script, I became skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of those actors: Paul Rudd is impossible not to like (not to mention quite handsome) and I like to think of Tina Fey as my patronus. My issue was, Admission is not exactly a comedy, and that is traditionally what both of them are known for. Still I hoped that maybe this movie would turn out okay, maybe they were going to branch out for this one. However, when I saw the trailer (released a few days ago) my hopes for the movie were dashed.

This is not Tina Fey or Paul Rudd’s fault, but this movie bares little resemblance to the book that I read. Much like the adaptation of Danny Wallace’s Yes Man, the script writers basically just took the vaguest idea of the book’s plot and turned it into a cookie-cutter comedy. I was also baffled by the fact that the whole Portia giving a child up for adoption plot point is apparently the center of the movie–in the book it is a poignant surprise revealed near the end of the book. (I would have put spoiler alert, but the whole trailer is basically a spoiler.) I love Tina Fey and Paul Rudd so much that I almost wish that I had never read the book. If not for that fact, I might have just viewed the trailer and thought “Oh this looks like a delightful (if slightly cliched) romp!”. Now, my nit-picky comparisons just overpower over any enjoyment taken the trailer. I still might watch the movie, but rest assured I will be quietly grumbling to myself the whole time.