Tina Fey is going to be a busy, busy woman now that “30 Rock” is finished. I get this feeling like the entire industry has been waiting for her to conclude the series so they can all get busy making her stinking rich. She is pretty much universally loved by the people making decisions in this industry, and she’s as valuable behind the camera as in front of it.
I’m out the door in a few minutes to go see “Admission,” and I’m curious to see how she is in it, although I think it’s just one of what I’m sure will be many Tina Fey movies in the next few years as Hollywood tries to figure out what works best for her at the box office. The pairing of her with Paul Rudd is almost like doing a movie on training wheels. Of course they’ll be charming and funny together, whether there’s anything more to the movie or not. Those two seem perfectly paired in terms of comic sensibility.
I like the idea of her starring in something written by Paula Pell, who was a producer on “This Is 40” and who served as one of Judd Apatow’s on-set sounding boards for new material as they were working. Pell has a very wry and active presence on Twitter these days, and she’s known Fey since the “Saturday Night Live” days, so there’s a comfort level there already. Pell just set up her script for “The Nest” with Fey’s company Little Stranger Inc. to produce at Universal, and Jason Moore, who directed “Pitch Perfect,” is currently negotiating to make this as his next film.
The movie deals with two thirtysomething sisters who come home to find their parents’ house has been put up for sale, leading to a long weekend of bonding and feuding and growing up, according to Deadline, who broke the story about the deal today.
That’s a pretty solid springboard for the kind of comedy that Fey has been associated with, and I hope it’s the best possible version of that logline. I can imagine a very good, character-driven comedy based on the premise, and I look forward to seeing how this comes together.
“Admission” opens March 22, 2013.