The film “Admission” resembles many of the rejected college applicants it portrays: likeable and clever, with a good story and the best of intentions, but not quite Ivy League material.

Admission. Directed by Paul Weitz. Rated PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned) for language and sexual material. Running time: 107 minutes. (BluRay/DVD Release)

By Kate Campbell

Like an anxious high school senior, Admission, directed by Paul Weitz (About A Boy), seeks acceptance. And like any admissions officer, film critics division, I would like Admission to be everything it could be, for the film to fulfill its potential and achieve greatness. But like so many of the applicants portrayed in this mildly comedic and pleasant film, Admission simply doesn’t make the cut.

Tina Fey plays Portia Nathan, stoic and driven admissions officer at highly regarded Princeton University, where the rivalry within the admissions office is just as fierce as the competition amongst applicants. After being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Portia goes into overdrive to prove herself to her boss. She soon receives a call from John Pressman (Paul Rudd), the free-spirited director of an alternative high school, who asks her to consider one of his students, Jeremiah Balakian (Nat Wolff), a quirky genius, for admission into Princeton. Rather abruptly, a pseudo-romance begins between Portia and John, while Portia simultaneously seeks the answer to a fateful question: could Jeremiah be the son she gave up for adoption in college? (Just play along.)

From the get-go, the film is filled with tension, tension between colleagues, tension between parents and children, tension between males and females, tension everywhere. Almost too much tension for one screenplay. Surprisingly enough, all the conflicts come to satisfying, though not completely unrealistic, conclusions. Quirky and at times uncomfortable, the film taps into incredibly raw emotions and real-life topics, such as the parent-child relationship, the idea of approval and acceptance, the search for true identity . . . the list continues.

However, packaging is key: thick envelope or thin? Admission undercuts its potentially valuable life lessons because it tries to pack too much in, like a high schooler that loads up on extracurriculars to disguise his or her mediocre GPA. In addition, poor editing and awkward cuts, especially the numerous phone call scenes between Rudd and Fey, are choppy, to the point of making the dialog and continuity problematic — director Weitz simply didn’t put this film together with sufficient care.

Tina Fey and Lily Tomlin in “Admission.”

Don’t get me wrong, this is a fantastic middle-of-the-week, middle-of-the-afternoon film, packed with nearly every social issue imaginable (if you’re into that kind of thing), including an uncomfortable awkwardness reminiscent of the high school seniors it depicts. Fey provides an excellent yet atypical performance that demonstrates an unexpectedly affecting emotional side to her talent. Paul Rudd’s solid turn shores up the plot’s backbone; the romantic chemistry between the two comes off as surprisingly natural.

Lily Tomlin (I Heart Huckabees) gives a dazzling performance as Portia’s headstrong, independent, and ultra-feminist mother. Tomlin and Fey craft a magnificently tense mother-daughter relationship that admirably develops one of the film’s major themes: a parent’s desire for her child’s happiness. The true star of Admission, however, is Nat Wolff, who plays Balakian, a brilliant misfit seeking to be accepted into Princeton. Wolff appeared on the Nickelodeon TV series The Naked Brothers Band and had a minor role in New Year’s Eve, but his performance here, particularly his charming interactions with Fey, commands our attention.