Baby Mama (Universal Pictures)
A Hatching Chick Flick
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-star in the chick flick comedy Baby Mama. This is a movie about women who want babies and is seemingly made for women who want babies. The rest of us have to settle for a funny joke or sight gag here and there. It is a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours but it wont stay with you after the delivery.
Kate (Fey) is thirty-seven years old and unmarried. She wants a baby but has a T shaped uterus that her doctor says is a baby carrying no-no. She then looks into adoption but as a single woman that is also iffy. Finally she decides on a surrogate. Through an agency run by Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver) she gets hooked up with Angie (Poehler) who agrees to carry her baby.
Angie comes with a little bit of baggage, namely a common law husband named Carl (Dax Shepard). He is into it all for the money. Angie is too, but then she softens a bit as she gets to know Kate. When she and Carl have a fight Angie moves into Kates apartment. The better to bond.
Kate has a doorman named Oscar (Romany Malco) as well as a boyfriend named Rob (Greg Kinnear). They both come into her life as part of her supporting circle of friends. She also has an eccentric boss named Barry (Steve Martin). Barry is weird in a new age sort of way.
Fey has a low key acting style and a dry sense of humor. People seem to love her but she is a little too low key for me. Poehler on the other hand is bright and sassy and full of fun. The combination of the two women is an enjoyable one and they play well off each other.
Shepard and Malco are great assets to the film. Each man is funny and sharp. Kinnear is rather bland in his role and Martin is just too far out there to be believed. Weaver just phones her role in. Holland Taylor is seen briefly as Kates mother. She is so good and droll in her role that the makers of the movie would have been wise to use her more.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and some crude humor.
The best aspect of the movie is the interplay between Fey and Poehler; the worst is the predictability of the script. The movie also sags in the middle but perks up at the end, even in the predictable part. This film is not a laugh riot but it is somewhat enjoyable.
If you are into this whole Tina Fey thing then you might get even more pleasure from the film. If you are stumped by it, then you should focus on Poehler. In my book she is the funnier of the two women anyway.
I scored Baby Mama a fertile 5 out of 10.
