Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
breiaj-92
College: In or Out "Acceptance" is a movie that is equivalent of being slapped on the wrist by your mother for not being like everyone. Forget about being different from others and being yourself. In the movie it shows how crazy students and parents can get when it comes to being accepted in different colleges. Director Sanaa Hamri, who also directed "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2", had no problem working with Susan Coll. Sanaa Hamri knows the target of her audience -tweens and up- and would rather direct chaotic romantic fantasies than dash them. The movie was based on a critically acclaimed book Acceptance: which is one of Susan's novels. Susan was born in New York, and had written two other novels," Rockville Pike", and "Karlmarx.com." Coll. has worked as a freelance writer and book reviewer, she has had articles have appeared in publications including the Washington Post, the Asian Wall Street Journal and so many more. Coll. even had some of her stories broadcasted on BBC World Service Radio. In "Acceptance" parents are no longer holding their son or daughters hands across the streets, there molding and shaping them into the " ideal student" that they believe colleges want. " Acceptance" is a movie about a high school student who use to be an overachiever name Taylor Rockefeller. Taylor is struggling her senior year trying to cope with the stress of applying to her dream college. Taylor parents are really close to getting a divorce which has made her life three times more stressful then it was at first. And with her mother pushing her to go to the best college where she can get a great education and find a great husband so that she will never end up unhappy like herself. But when Taylor decides to go to a low- ranked school that made it on the " Top 50 best colleges" book because of a computer typo. Her and her mother get into a huge argument about her future happiness. Taylor has no problem staying the optimistic kid she has been all four years of her high school experience, but when she sees her classmates taking the ACT 20 times, and walking, dressing and talking different she has no choice but to drop them all as friends. Picking up a odd behavior by stealing the neighborhood's mail, Taylor feels below herself. But with all the campus visits, SAT scores, and school applications Taylor and her friends try to remain sane during a very competitive process of the normal college admissions that most American families have to face. Coll. did a great job in writing this book the way she felt teenagers really stress about this college life. Taylor Rockefeller (Mae Whitman), has no relation to the other members in her family, who are known to be the " famous Rockefeller." She is determined not to turn into a robot like the rest of her friends, that she begins this really awkward habitat of stealing her neighbors. Her parents are separated and her mother ( Joan Cusack) is putting so much pressure on her to pick the best school, where she can get a great education and find a great spouse as well. Nina Rockefeller ( Joan Cusack), a St. John-clad mother, who is estranged from her husband, nurtures a drinking problem and has pushed her daughter so hard to get into the best college based on academic excellence and spousal potential, that she is slicing her wrists. Maya ( Deepti Daryanani), is Taylor's Indian friend, who's family won't accept anything less than her admittance to an Ivy School. But when Maya wants to become a poet instead of an Doctor like her mother, sister, and father that are very close to disowning her. Harry ( Jonathan Keltz), is Taylor's ex-boyfriend, he recently changed his name in the movie to AP Harry. He decided that if he took every Advanced Placement test they have to offer, then he would break a world record and Harvard would have no choice but to choose him. After there leading roles in " Acceptance" many of the characters had a great success. I believe that Susan Coll. did a great job, seeing as this was her first movie. This Movie is great for people who are stressing about their college life, and what all they need to do. I recommend that people who don't know what to write about in their college essay about should watch this movie .
edwagreen
A step above a bad film is 2009's "Acceptance."We know what students and parents go through in the latter's senior year in high school as they wait for those fateful letters of acceptance or rejection. This film is a comedy about that situation but then turns somewhat serious.We have a group of high school California students who really compete to get into the Ivy League schools.When one such student knows that she can't make the grade, she applies to a fictitious Yates College that has been accidentally rated as one of the 50 top colleges in the U.S. Other students of her group also apply to Yates. Another is so intent on getting into Harvard that he doesn't bother to apply to any other college. Is this really a bright student?While it is certainly true that going to the greatest school doesn't automatically mean that you shall succeed in life, the film trivializes this and instead becomes one of neurotic and of much inane anxiety.Joan Cusack's performance as a competitive-driven parent is ridiculous at best. She certainly has more problems going for her. Why she made this film is her biggest problem!
