There’s been a whole bunch of buzz around Tina Fey’s new movie, Admission. Right now, Fey is one of those comedians that can do no wrong, it seems. Her Golden Globes presenting stint with Amy Poehler went down a storm and had many viewers crying out for her to take on the Oscars, too. So surely, her new movie Admission (filmed between the penultimate and the last season of her hit comedy 30 Rock), co-starring Paul Rudd, will also be a huge hit, right?

Not if the critics have anything to do with it, it seems. Admission premiered on March 6, 2013 in New York City and thus far, it has garnered far less critical acclaim that we expected. Tina Fey CAN do wrong, it would appear. The comic tale, focused on Fey’s character Portia, a university admissions officer has ben dismissed by Variety’s reviewer Peter Debruge, who writes “What appears on paper to be an ideal three-dimensional, morally complex role for the quick-witted comedienne backfires in practice, relying on Fey to be funny in a movie that works better serious.” Similarly, Todd McCarthy of Hollywood Reporter writes “the misguided central characters emerge, in the end, as less likeable than they ought to be.”

It remains to be seen whether the likeable nature of the actors themselves will be enough to carry this comedy through the negative press reception. Fey will be hoping that she can pull off the same feat as Melissa McCarthy, whose comedy Identity Thief recently defied a raft of negative reviews to hit the top spot in the box office chart.  

Tina Fey
Tina Fey: Pictured at the Admission premiere