Tina Fey saves ‘Baby Mama’
Published April 29, 2008
Tina Fey is a smart woman. Seeing the commercial and critical success of comedies involving pregnancy (like “Knocked Up” and “Juno”), Fey decided to try her luck and give birth to a box office smash in “Baby Mama.” What results is an enjoyable film that might not be a classic, but is comedic nonetheless.
Fey plays workaholic Kate Holbrook, whose chances of conceiving have been reduced to one in a million. After trying everything from artificial insemination to adoption applications, Fey decides to choose a surrogate, in the form of dense, white trash Angie (“SNL” cast member Amy Poehler). This allows for most of the comedy to come in the form of “The Odd Couple” scenario. That is to say if Felix and Oscar were women and Felix was trying to have a baby.
Fey’s writing talent aside, “Baby Mama” would be a complete flop if it weren’t for the strong acting.
Fey’s character works much in the same way as her Liz Lemon from “30 Rock.” She gains the audience’s sympathy in her plight, yet she certainly isn’t a perfect hero. The same works for Poehler’s Angie. Poehler gives the character much more depth than just a “loveable loser,” and one may argue that Angie steals much of the show away from Kate. That’s one of the great things about Fey’s writing: she develops realistic characters that are both perfectly likable and perfectly flawed.
Still, “Baby Mama” isn’t without its imperfections. At times, the plot is predictable and unoriginal. For example, taking a normally uptight person to a club and watching their drunken antics isn’t anything new. Other times, the script can lag and seem boring. While the film runs at about an hour and a half, the pace makes it seem much longer. Also, a lot of the film’s good laughs are wasted because of the fact that they were featured in the trailers. However, right when you think the film is unbearable, the pace and comedy picks back up again.
Fey is certainly making a case for herself as one of the top comedy writers in the past few years. “Baby Mama” follows along the same suit as “Mean Girls” as a comedic view of our society’s obsessions. While “Mean Girls” examined the social hierarchy and manipulation of high school cliques, “Baby Mama” looks at the current baby mania in our culture.
While the movie is certainly enjoyable, it isn’t necessarily as original as “Juno” or as gut busting as “Knocked Up.” That doesn’t mean the film is terrible either. The acting helps keep the film afloat when the script falters, including strong supporting work from Greg Kinnear and Sigourney Weaver. The writing does a good job of keeping a good balance between comedy and corniness, saving “Baby Mama” from being placed in the dreaded “chick flick” category. And even if none of that convinces you, “Baby Mama” gives you the opportunity to see a pony-tailed Steve Martin blabber about auroras and wheat grass. Who doesn’t want to see that?