What's the secret to getting in?
The Story:
Portia (Tina Fey) is a Princeton admissions officer. At Princeton, they pride themselves on rejecting 99% of all applications they receive. As they head into the applications of the upcoming class, she is contacted by John (Paul Rudd) a teacher at a new school about Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), his prodigy who would be perfect for Princeton, but maybe not necessarily the type of candidate that Princeton would otherwise pursue. Can he convince her otherwise? Maybe...
So this is one of those movies that was savaged by critics and ignored at the box office.
Beats me, it wasn't that bad. I'm curious what folks were expecting?
It's hardly a romantic comedy. Which is probably the undoing of the film. That's what people probably thought they were going to get with the movie. Is there a romance in here? Yes, but it's almost tacked on as an afterthought.
I suppose in the end, you almost need to blame the film's lack of box office on the marketing department. Looking for a picture of the film, they are all cutesy pics of Rudd and Fey making it indeed look like a romantic comedy.
I think they should have spun the marketing to focus on Princeton's rejection of most candidates, and left it at that. Then everything else would play out on its own merits.
Instead, the twist from this movie comes fairly early, and Portia spends the rest of the movie dealing with the ramifications of that revelation.
The movie is not laugh out loud funny either. Starring Fey and Rudd, you would think that impossible, but I'm here to tell you that it's the truth! Instead of guffaws, the movie spends most of its time in a constant state of amusement. Some laughs will come, others will just elicit a smile or a chuckle.
That said, there are plenty of worse comedies out there.
Believe me, I've seen many of them.
:)
This one was worth a viewing.
Final Grade: B-
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No purchase, but I'd have no problems seeing it again down the road in the future...
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