Baby Mama

Anyone who’s seen and loved Mean Girls would no doubt agree that Tina Fey plus Amy Poehler equals comedic brilliance. Both are talented actresses, so naturally my expectations for Baby Mama were relatively high. However, even though the concept had potential and the two women made the perfect odd couple, some of the humour felt forced and the film wasn’t as funny as I’d anticipated.

The film follows the day-to-day life of thirty-seven year old businesswoman Kate Holbrook (Fey), who desperately wants to have a baby but must face the facts that her doctor doesn’t “like her uterus” because of its irregular shape and, because of this irregularity, her chances of falling pregnant are slim. To combat this problem, she hires working woman Angie Ostrowiski (Poehler) to be her surrogate and, following an argument with her partner, Angie moves in with Kate. The two attempt to tolerate each other and their differences; Kate is a healthnut and quite well off, whereas Angie is “white trash,” for lack of a better term. Naturally, they conflict over Angie’s eating habits whilst pregnant and some of her other activities, such as dyeing her hair. An amusing shower scene follows.

Those expecting a comedy to rival the wit of Mean Girls will likely walk away disappointed. However, Baby Mama does deal with some serious issues, namely surrogacy and family and, amid the comedic edge, there is a softer and more heartfelt side as Kate and Angie both begin to get along, learning from each other in the process. Angie, much the child of this mismatched relationship, is forced to battle with her conscience and mature as the film progresses and the two’s friendship develops. Whilst Kate learns to be more spontaneous and outgoing.

There are definitely some snigger-worthy one-liners throughout the film. Such as the cracker, “I want to reward you with five minutes of uninterrupted eye-contact,” from Kate’s hippie boss, Barry. Steve Martin shines in this role and adds some welcomed eccentricity into the mix. Other notable roles are Carl (Dax Shepard), Angie’s rude and inconsiderate husband (“I’m going to bang all your friends. Consider them banged!”) Rob Ackerman (Greg Kinnear) Kate’s love interest and owner of a local drink bar (home of the smoothie Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?) and Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), head of the Surrogacy Center that Kate visits.

The casting, for the most part, is inspired. My favourite character was Barry; you can never quite anticipate what will come out of his mouth next. Least favourite would go to Rob, predominantly because he came across as the stereotypical nice guy and didn’t have a very strong or distinct character.

The plot developed well, showing the characters’ transformations and there were some unexpected turns but the eventual conclusion seemed implausible given the characters’ situations and, overall, was rather predictable. It felt as though the film was aiming more for a happy ending rather than a realistic one. I don’t believe this film to be a comedic breakthrough or particularly memorable, but if you like your comedy light, fun and with a positive and heart-warming message along with it, perhaps this will be your cup of tea.