Susan Granger’s review of “Baby Mama” (Universal Pictures)
With every magazine extolling “baby bumps” and the awareness of thirtysomethings that their biological clock is ticking, there’s no question that this romantic comedy is timely.
And perhaps I expected too much when two of the funniest comediennes from “Saturday Night Live” – Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler – teamed up with writer/director Michael McCullers and producers Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn.
Businesswoman Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) has always been so focused on her career at Philadelphia’s Round Earth Organic Market – catering to her New Age guru boss (Steve Martin) – that she never considered having a family. But now that she’s ready, apparently, her uterus isn’t. Discouraged about adoption, she turns to Chaffee Bricknell’s (Sigourney Weaver) maternal ‘outsourcing’ agency that teams her up with a ‘gestational assistant’ or surrogate, scheming Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler). Or, as Kate’s wisecracking doorman (Romany Malco) dubs her, “the baby mama.”
But Angie’s saddled with a sleazy, duplicitous common-law husband (Dax Shepard) whom she eventually leaves – and moves in with Kate. They’re a female “Odd Couple”: Kate’s an obsessed perfectionist, while Angie’s a junk-food gobbling slob. To add to the confusion, Kate’s falling in love with a local fruit juice-bar owner (Greg Kinnear), a single father. Of course, eventually, everyone discovers what the non-traditional concept of ‘family’ is really all about.
While seasoned as the writer of two successful “Austin Powers” pictures, Michael McCullers, who once shared a “SNL” office with Tina Fey, could have used a more experienced comedy director; this is his first feature film – and it shows, not only in the pacing but in the woefully weak third act. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Baby Mama” is a wry, satirical 7. It’s just not as hip as I was hoping.
