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The new thinking in Hollywood, as borne out in films like "Knocked Up" and "Juno," is that you can't have it all if you don't have any offspring. "Baby Mama," with "30 Rock" star Tina Fey, is the latest voice to join the chorus.
Fey plays Kate Holbrook, the youngest vice president at Round Earth, a national organic foods retailer. At 37, Kate drives a sensible car and lives in a gorgeous apartment, but finds herself craving the ultimate status symbol: a continuation of her genes. Or maybe she just really wants to be a mommy. The former notion gets some play in a few early scenes, like a dinner with family at which Kate's mother advises her to not "get a black baby" if she adopts, because that's what all those silly actresses are doing. Writer and first-time director Michael McCullers seems much more at ease, however, exploring the less complicated rationale that, sooner or later, every woman simply feels driven to reproduce. The first roadblock to Kate's happiness is that she's single, but on top of that, she's infertile, with barely a one-in-a-million chance of conception. (Hmmm.) Adoption takes time, so Kate enlists surrogate specialist Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), who introduces her to childlike Angie (Amy Poehler) and her lunkhead husband, Carl (Dax Shepard). Angie can have a baby and wants money, while Kate has moolah and craves a wee bairn, so everyone's happy at first. The plot thickens after Angie moves out on Carl and moves in with Kate at roughly the same time that Kate is picked to oversee the planning and construction of Round Earth's new flagship store. There's also friendly Rob (Greg Kinnear), who sells smoothies in the same part of town where the store is being built. (Double hmmm.) The strongest element of "Baby Mama" is its charming cast. Fey is an excellent protagonist, graceful and smart, but also imperfect and therefore sympathetic. She has a cozy romantic chemistry with Kinnear, and a finely tuned rapport with longtime "Saturday Night Live" cohort Poehler. Other fun performances are given by Steve Martin, as Kate's hippy-dippy boss, Barry; Weaver, as the smugly patient Chaffee; and Romany Malco, as Oscar, the doorman at Kate's building who takes an affectionate interest in Angie. Stringing it all together is an assortment of plot cliches like the big confrontation in a public place where everyone finally reveals each other's deceptions -- because, of course, no one's been entirely honest with anyone else. Feelings are hurt, sharp words are spoken, cue the healing montage of solitary reflection, complete with touchy-feely emo ballad. The pacing is listless at times, and a lot of the humor is either stupid, or plain doesn't work, like the nails-on-a-chalkboard birthing coach who does that "mawidge" thing with her consonants that hasn't been funny in a single other movie since Peter Cook did it in "The Princess Bride." There's no need to waste a babysitter on "Baby Mama," but make a note of it for about six months from now -- by then, Redbox and Netflix should both have copies. |
