Despite limitations, 'Baby Mama' delivers
Tina Fey is cuter than buttons, and her new comedy, "Baby Mama," punches most of the right ones when it comes to sympathizing with a thirtysomething woman whose biological clock has sounded the alarm.
"Baby Mama" works like a lighter, frothier version of a Judd Apatow comedy. It's vulgar and sweet in measured amounts, and makes sure that all its characters -- no matter how stupid or venial they initially appear to be -- evolve into nice, happy people before the closing credits.
Moviegoers looking for shards of originality or a sharp comic edge should give up their hopes here and go see Apatow's current offering "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
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For less demanding viewers seeking a pleasant, feel-good diversion, "Baby Mama" fills the ticket. This comedy goes exactly where we expect it to and doesn't pull any surprises out of its limited box of tricks.
The strongest element here is the kinetic chemistry between Fey and her "Saturday Night Live" co-star Amy Poehler. Their contrasting personalities -- Fey's Felix Unger, Poehler's Oscar Madison -- create a naturally rocky relationship that buoys director Michael McCullers' screenplay through its frequent thin patches.
Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a successful, professional, unmarried woman who, at 37, wants to have a baby. With zero husbandly prospects on the horizon and an uncooperative uterus, she looks into adoption, then opts to visit Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), the aging but mysteriously fertile owner of a surrogate agency.
Chaffee matches Kate up with Angie (Poehler), a shallow and vacuous TV/video game addict in a seemingly hostile relationship with none-too-deep Carl (Dax Shepard). Soon after Angie agrees to carry Kate's baby, Angie breaks up with Carl and, having no place else to go, crashes at Kate's perfectly organized home.
Here is where the conflict between personalities carries the film, with the prim and proper Kate horrified by the personal hygiene and health habits of the woman bearing her unborn child.
Kate can't believe Angie stuffs her face with unhealthy choices such as Pringles and Dr. Pepper, but Red Bull?
"It's an energy drink!" Angie explains.
While Angie and Carl constantly spar, Kate meets Bob, a genuinely nice guy (read: available) who runs a local juice bar offering healthy drinks. Greg Kinnear plays Bob with more affability and depth than the role requires. Kinnear's low-key performance ratchets up "Baby Mama" a few notches on the empathy scale.
Not quite like Romany Malco's doorman at Kate's apartment complex. He frequently tries to out-Martin-Lawrence Martin Lawrence with broad overreactions you'd expect to see in an overdirected sitcom or "SNL" skit.
Fey has charisma to spare, and it served her well within the confines of skit comedy and her "Weekend Update" newscasts on "SNL."
As the lead performer in a feature film, her acting limitations become instantly obvious. At times, she appears stiff and mannered, not quite as at ease before the camera as Poehler, who throws herself into character with carefree abandon.
McCullers' "Baby Mama" boasts just enough jokes and funny scenes to carry a feature film, yet the bone-headed theatrical trailers and TV commercials sabotage it by showcasing nearly all of the best jokes.
So if you've seen the commercials for "Baby Mama," you've already seen the funniest bits. The rest just fill out the story's pregnant pauses.
"Baby Mama"
Two-and-a-half stars (out of four)
Starring: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard.
Written, directed by: Michael McCullers.
Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for crude humor, language, drug references. 99 minutes.