“Acceptance” focuses a lot on students who are trying to get accepted to the Ivy League colleges their parents want them to attend, but the movie is also about being accepted for who a person is. And that person can be successful without attending Harvard or Yale.
Taylor Rockefeller, “not related to the famous ones,” lives in a home in which her mother (Joan Cusack) demands an Ivy League future and in which her mother and father argue a lot. Taylor, a kind girl, has a problem: she cuts herself with scissors and still has feelings for a boy named Harry, though they are no longer seeing each other. Harry only has eyes for Harvard, but can’t seem to totally ignore Taylor anytime she wanders by. Taylor’s friend Maya has strict parents who want her to go to an Ivy League college as well, but her aspirations are a bit different than theirs.
The plot focuses on Taylor and her mother, Harry and his mother, and Maya and her relationship with Taylor. Just when it seems like hope is lost for all three characters, they find that although life takes them on a few paths they wouldn’t have thought, things turn out pretty well. Even Taylor’s dad says to her mom, “We’ve got to stop arguing,” and she replies, “Yes, okay, let’s do that.” We are recommending the movie for ages 12+ due to a few sophisticated themes and a few comments about sex. A couple having an affair stops when the woman realizes it is wrong.
The movie has a lot to say about success, and that success is not necessarily a trip to an Ivy League college. It also makes a statement about accepting one’s level of abilities as they are, not comparing them to someone else. Enjoy “Acceptance!”