One would think that Tina Fey, the brain that brought about the Emmy awarding-winning 30 Rock,"" would take the comedically fertile concept of surrogate pregnancy and make ""Baby Mama"" a movie that is smart, fun and hilarious. As Amy Poehler (of ""Saturday Night Live"") would say in the film, ""Yeah. I like all of those words.""
To a certain extent, ""Baby Mama"" is all of those things. Written by former ""Saturday Night Live"" writer Michael McCullers, the script was then punched up by Fey and Poehler. The problem is ""Baby Mama"" takes Fey's tried-and-true recipe of smart, and silly comedy and sprinkles an unfortunate amount of bland on top.
Fey stars as Kate Holbrook, a type-A woman who spends her life climbing the corporate ladder only to find that when she is finally ready to have a baby, her ""junk had gone bad."" She decides to hire sweet yet crass and trashy Angie Ostrowiski (Poehler) to carry her baby for her. The result is an odd-couple buddy comedy that tackles femininity and class issues in a clever and funny way. ""I wish I were at an Arby's!"" Angie screams. ""They have way better food and cooler people!""
The supporting cast is stuffed with comedy vets from ""SNL"" (Will Forte and Fred Armisen) and ""Late Night with Conan O'Brien"" (Jon Glaser and Brian Stack). Greg Kinnear acts as Fey's love interest and owner of a Jamba Juice-hating smoothie shop with a titillating name and logo. Steve Martin plays Fey's new-age boss with a ponytail and bizarre rewards system. Sigourney Weaver also plays a hilarious bit part as an unusually fertile elderly woman (""Expecting what?"" Poehler's character asks, ""A social security check?"").
Those familiar with the works of Fey and Poehler will be disappointed, however, by its dull wit. Some scenes are ripe with comedic potential yet fail to produce laughs. The story is not especially engaging; the plot developments produce little interest and serve as fodder for jokes. The ending feels thrown together and abrupt, the results a little to contrived and too convenient. Trying too hard to be ""feel-good,"" the film forgets to be good at this point.
However, it is worth seeing the film just for Fey and Poehler alone. The duo produce the film's funniest scenes, including a heated therapy session, unusual shower scene and a montage featuring in-vitro fertilization over the song ""Endless Love.""
""Baby Mama"" has funny lines and funny people. The film leaves the audience wanting more and thinking that a more satisfying Fey and Poehler fix can be found on the small screen.
