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Starring:
Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, Romany Malco, Dax Shepard, Maura Tierney, Holland Taylor, Steve Martin, Siobhan Fallon, Dennis Albanese, Blake Young-Fountain, Jay Phillips, Jon Glaser, Sonny Vellozzi, Kimberly Magness, Erica Berg, Annie Rohling, Andrew Ginsburg, Anne L. Nathan, Kevin Collins, Bryan Webster, Mark A. Keeton, Andrew Hillmedo Jr., Dionne Audain, Andrea Castro, Garrett Ching, Kimberly Dorsey, Ramon Flowers, Kathy Searle, Adrian Washington, Ian Colletti, Stephen Seidel, Curt Carlson, Felicity Stiverson, Tom Patrick Stephens, Catherine Rose, Brian Stack, Alice Kremelberg, Andra Eggleston, Stephen Seidel, Emily Brownell, Robert Von Stange, Amanda Rosado, Sawyer Mastrandrea, Jonas Brandon
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Baby Mama (2008)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
April 25th, 2008
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'Baby Mama', like Harold and Kumar, features a winning comic duo. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler had good runs on SNL (Fey left, Poehler is still part of the cast), and here they prove just how wonderful their chemistry can really be; they are like a female odd couple, and, as exact opposites, they compliment each other very well. I feel like this movie may have been stronger if Fey had written the script instead of director Michael McCullers, and yes, she does have experience, she wrote Mean Girls, which is probably the best film Lindsay Lohan will ever make. As it stands, 'Baby Mama' contains a lot of laughs, a few big ones and many smaller ones, but it also has a number of jokes and gags that fall flat. Fey is Kate Holbrook, recently promoted to vice-president at the company she works for, which supervises a chain of organic food markets. She is a straight-laced professional, still single and with no real plans of getting involved with anybody, but she does want a baby. She is told that her chances of conceiving a child are quite rare, so she turns to the possibility of finding a surrogate.
This takes her to Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), whom she pays to find a suitable candidate. Bicknell picks a white trash waif named Angie (Poehler). She moves in with Kate, after leaving her useless boyfriend Carl (Dax Shepard). Of course, Angie and Kate don't get along at first, but inevitably become friends. Angie has problems adjusting to Kate's high-class world. Kate likewise finds it difficult to relate to Angie, who is likeable and endearing despite her occasionally crude and brazen personality. Angie can be obnoxious and unruly at times; she is more or less directionless, leads a carefree and unstructured life, whereas Kate's life is all about structure, so much so that one may wonder why she might want a baby in the first place, since this would undoubtedly disrupt her orderly, career-oriented existence. Perhaps she has taken that into account, and is prepared for the consequences. Like many comedies, most of the funniest stuff in 'Baby Mama' is revealed in the trailer. But it still works, or at least most of it does. Angie has a secret she is keeping from Kate, a secret about her pregnancy that turns into a plot device intended only to drive a wedge between them, only so that they reconcile. It is little more than a superficial distraction. Also not that interesting or effective is Greg Kinnear as Rob, the man Kate falls for. Kinnear is nice and charming enough, but his part is sorely underwritten. Shepard is irritating, but thankfully is relegated to obscurity after only a handful of scenes.
Steve Martin is a delight as Kate's hippie-like boss, Barry. It is the best role Martin has had in years, at least since Bringing Down the House, and I am of course, ignoring his shameful presence in those two dreadful Cheaper by the Dozen flicks and that atrocious Pink Panther remake. I also liked Weaver, whose character is apparently still very fertile even if she is nearly 60 years old. But, really, the movie is all about Poehler and Fey, and that is certainly where the focus should be. Poehler is more consistently amusing than Fey; but Fey's reactions and responses to Angie's antics are often priceless in and of themselves. Both women, because of their stints on SNL, obviously have a flair for improvisation, though I don't know if they did improvise all that much. Sometimes, the material descends into the realm of brainless silliness, and that is where it starts to lag. But, Poehler and Fey manage to keep it fresh a good deal of the time.
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