THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND: Portia (Tina Fey, left) meets John (Paul Rudd), who was her former college boyfriend when they were both students at Dartmouth. John is now the principal of a high school in New Hampshire, and, as part of her job of admissions officer at Princeton University, Portia is looking for potential candidates. To her surprise, John recommends someone who turns out to be Portia’s son whom she gave up for adoption at birth.

Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) has worked for 16 years in the admissions office at Princeton, the university regularly rated by experts as among the best in the country. Because of her pivotal role in picking prospective students for the highly selective Ivy League institution, she often finds herself approached by pushy parents who are seeking preferential treatment for their children.

That’s why she prides herself on never having compromised the integrity of the application process, a commitment that is appreciated by her boss, the outgoing Dean of Admissions (Wallace Shawn). In fact, he has recently indicated that he’s prepared to recommend either her or the equally dedicated Corinne (Gloria Reuben) as his replacement when he retires.

That announcement starts a fierce competition between the two colleagues which has Portia going up to New Hampshire in search of qualified candidates for admission. She visits an alternative high school whose handsome principal, John Pressman (Paul Rudd), had been a classmate of hers at Dartmouth. Sparks fly, but nothing transpires, because she’s in a committed relationship at home in Princeton.

John pressures Portia to interview Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), a bright but underachieving student with a woeful academic transcript. She has no problem dismissing the application out of hand until John gives her a birth certificate showing that Jeremiah is the son that she gave up for adoption years ago.

Suddenly, Portia finds herself on the horns of a dilemma. Should she reject this candidate who is clearly not Princeton material, or should she bend the rules for her own flesh and blood? After all, it’s the least she could do, since she had no part in raising him.

That is the conundrum at the heart of Admission, a delightful romantic movie directed by Paul Weitz (American Pie). Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s bestseller of the same name, the film offers a revealing look at the cutthroat college entrance process from the gatekeepers’ point of view.

Besides the temptation of nepotism, the film is about the tender romance between Portia and John which has a chance to blossom when she’s abandoned by her philandering boyfriend (Michael Sheen), which she discovers when she returns from New Hampshire. Additionally, intriguing subplots abound that involve a cornucopia of colorful support characters.

For instance, John, who is not married, has an adopted African son (Travaris Spears) who craves the predictability that settling down with a stable woman might provide. And Portia needs to mend fences with her estranged mother (Lily Tomlin), a breast cancer survivor who in turn would benefit from the attentions of an ardent admirer (Olek Krupa). Additional sidebars feature memorable cameos by Roby Sobieski (Leelee’s little brother), Asher Muldoon (author Korelitz’s son), and an emerging ingénue, Nadia Alexander.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for profanity and some sexuality. Running time: 117 minutes. Distributor: Focus Features.