Baby MamaDirected by Michael McCullers
Average customer review:
Product Description
Comedic geniuses Tina Fey (30 Rock, Saturday Night Live) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) team up to celebrate a modern twist on motherhood! Kate (Fey) is a single, successful career woman who wants something more: a baby. But she gets more than she bargained for when she hires Angie (Poehler), a free spirit from South Philly, to be her surrogate in a hysterical mama match-up. From birth class to baby-proofing, they’re the ultimate odd couple that critics are calling “the best female comedy duo since Lucy and Ethel” (Claudia Puig, USA Today). With hilarious performances from an all-star cast featuring Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, and Sigourney Weaver, Baby Mama is as full of laughs as it is heart!
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #48 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-09
- Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 99 minutes
Amazon.com
Laughter and hearty guffaws abound in this comical look at 37-year-old career woman Kate Holbrook's (30 Rock's Tina Fey) desperate attempts to have a baby. Never mind that she's not married and has never been involved in a serious relationship; Kate wants a baby and will stop at virtually nothing to get one. After failed attempts at broaching the concept of conception with first dates and trying artificial insemination with the help of a sperm bank, Kate finds out that her t-shaped uterus leaves her with only a one in a million chance of conceiving a child. Adoption doesn't work out and she's left with the distasteful option of hiring a surrogate mother. Enter Chaffee Bicknell's (Sigourney Weaver) surrogate service and her recommendation of the working-class Angie Ostrowiski (Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler) who, with her common-law husband Carl (Dax Shepard), is just desperate enough to take on the job in order to make some money, and the stage is set for baby making. As fate would have it, Angie and Carl break up just after Angie announces she's pregnant and Angie ends up moving in with Kate. Unfortunately, the two are completely incompatible and what ensues is a hysterical struggle to coexist while clashing over everything from proper nutrition to stroller selection, hair dye, and delivery options. Further complicating matters is Kate's budding relationship with ex-lawyer and juice-store owner Rob (Greg Kinnear), who just happens to be morally opposed to the whole concept of surrogate parenting. Finally, there's the question of just how fully Angie embraces the virtue of honesty. It's the juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints--so boldly stated, humorously set, and blatantly exploited--that makes this witty comedy so darn funny. Expect graphic references, raunchy humor, and a whole lot of laughter. --Tami Horiuchi
Customer Reviews
Disappointingly Sophomoric
Whether it's her surprisingly refreshing take on a novel about modern day teenagers (Mean Girls) or snarky one-liners about today's news (SNL's Weekend Update), Tina Fey has become known for delivering on-screen the dialogue she previously wrote behind the scenes. Paired up with her Update partner in crime, Amy Poehler, and the two should be unstoppable because as quippy with just a touch of absurdity, Fey's writing somehow always manages to be both relevant and laugh out-loud funny. Unfortunately her turn as a perpetually single career woman desperate for a child of her own in Michael McCullers' Baby Mama is neither of those things. Perhaps Fey just wanted to prove she could relinquish some control with Baby Mama, or perhaps her real life baby kept her from wearing too many hats on this project, but in either case, the lackluster result cries out for her attention like any newborn.
Fans of Fey and Poehler from their SNL days, or even more recent projects like 30 Rock and Hamlet 2 respectively, will want to give Baby Mama a shot just to see their girls back on-screen as a duo. But fans who expect anything more than a warm smile or a meek chuckle will be sorely disappointed. Baby Mama is a female buddy comedy written by a man and within the studio system, which may explain why Fey and Poehler's natural chemistry gets buried by stereotypical Felix and Oscar gags. When Fey's Kate learns she has a one in a million chance of getting pregnant, she looks for a surrogate, and despite her anal retentively immaculate apartment and Ivy league-esque persona, she still hires the free-spirited, messy, tells-it-like-it-is Angie (Poehler). The two embark on a friendship of opposites that would never have taken place but for the check that was being passed between the two, and sadly that fact never lingers too far from the audience's minds, making the union feel that much more forced. Had the two women found they actually had more in common once they got to know each other, the story wouldn't have been saved, but it would have been better. Instead, though, McCullers forces lessons down the audience's throats: how the women learn from each other--one to calm down and one to grow up--and in the process, they learn how to be mothers. Too sappy to truly be real, and if there's any question about that, just wait for the end when once again the Hollywood ending breaks through any cynicism to prove the impossible can happen... in the movies.
Oddly, McCullers' men aren't any more believable than his women in Baby Mama. Each one (from Greg Kinnear to Dax Shepard, and even Steve Martin) is hapless in his own way, and while goofiness can be cute in doses, these are men who are as immature as children. Instead of building up the characters, McCullers seems to rely on the timeliness of his film, incorporating countless pop culture references (Jamba Juice; American Idol karaoke) that are so oversaturated, they feel more like product placement than just typical elements of everyday life. It appears Baby Mama tries to pick up where Mean Girls left off: a witty, slice of life, character connection film, but like the aging party girl that Kate appears when Angie drags her out to a club, it just appears tired, overcompensating, and out of place among the actually hip crowd.
The bonus features on the DVD release include an audio commentary with McCullers, his two stars, and Executive Producer Lorne Michaels, who can't get a word in edgewise between Fey and Poehler's wisecracks (they sounds oddly pent-up, as if they wanted to release all that funny on-set but were restrained) and the director's incessant need to pipe in with technical knowledge (as if to prove he really does know what he's doing). There are also the obligatory deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and a making-of featurette ("From Conception to Delivery") that once again proves the stars' knack for comedy was wasted in the feature.
Entertaining but average comedy
Baby Mama is a comedy starring the always funny Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Tiny plays Kate, a successful businesswoman who is single but wants a baby. She's 37, and knows she shouldn't wait too much longer. A doctor tells her that she has only a very small chance at becoming pregnant, so she goes about finding someone who will be a surrogate mother for her child. Amy Poehler gives a funny performance as Angie, the girl who becomes the surrogate mother. Let's just say that she ends up not being an ideal candidate for the job.
Some of the funniest lines and scenes, and my personal favorites, went to Romany Malco. Romany plays Oscar, the doorman to Kate's building. You might recognize Romany for a variety of other funny films, including Blades of Glory and The 40 Year Old Virgin. While watching the movie, also look for appearances by Greg Kinnear, Steve Martin, and Sigourney Weaver. They all do a terrific job with their relatively small roles, and really add to the movie.
Baby Mama will be good for some laughs, but it is a fairly average comedy. The script isn't great, but Tiny Fey, Amy Poehler and the rest of the cast almost make it work. It's worth viewing, but don't expect too much.
Baby Mama is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a drug reference. It runs for 99 minutes.
missed opportunity
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey together sound like a marriage made in comedy heaven but after watching this movie you feel just a little let down. Tina Fey could be the next big thing. She is just so watchable and funny in 30 Rock and maybe if she had more input in this movie it could have been a blast,it just felt the main leads were pulling punches.Steve Martin looked old and comatose and Greg Kinnear underutilised. The movie just felt too predictable and not comfortable in its skin.
