Academy Award(R) Nominee Joan Cusack Headlines Razor Sharp Comedy 'Acceptance' Premiering August 22 on Lifetime Television

Mae Whitman Co-Stars in the Summer's Must-See Lifetime Original Movie Directed by Sanaa Hamri and Based on Susan Coll's Acclaimed Book ACCEPTANCE: A NOVEL

Sharpen your No. 2 pencils, and prepare to make the grade as Lifetime Television premieres Acceptance, an all-new, original comedy about the pressures of today's college admissions process. Starring two-time Academy Award nominee Joan Cusack (Working Girl, In & Out) and Mae Whitman (TV's Arrested Development, Independence Day), the movie is directed by Sanaa Hamri (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2) and is based on the critically acclaimed book Acceptance: A Novel, by Susan Coll. The Lifetime Original Movie Acceptance premieres on Saturday, August 22, 2009, at 9 pm (ET/PT).

ABOUT ACCEPTANCE
High school student and overachiever Taylor Rockefeller (Whitman) is weathering the storm of her senior year while, at the same time, struggling to cope with the stress of applying to her dream colleges. Complicating her life even further, her parents are on the verge of a break-up, and her mother, Nina (Cusack), is focused on Taylor getting into a top school for the sole purpose of meeting a suitable husband. But, when Taylor decides that the lowly-ranked Yates College is the right choice for her, she and her mom face off over what is really best for her future happiness.

Taylor's close friends, Harry (Jonathan Keltz, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Maya (Deepti Daryanani, The Cheetah Girls: One World), also gunning for admission to top universities, are not above going to extremes themselves in order to be accepted into the schools of their choice. Together, the three friends and their modern-day, dysfunctional families navigate SAT scores, campus visits and school applications as they try to remain sane during the highly competitive process of college admissions that most American families with high school kids have to face.