Baby Mama (2008)

"Steve Martin is sublime as Kate's boss, Barry, purveyor of organic food and Zen koans.  Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
"...Fey and Poehler may well be the best female comedy duo since Lucy and Ethel.  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"...sweeter -- and more honest in its depiction of class difference -- than one might otherwise expect.  Ken Fox, TV Guide
"...a comedy with the old-time blend of wit and sentiment.  Richard Corliss, Time
"Fey is a delight to watch throughout.  Todd McCarthy, Variety

Editor's Note Most romantic couples--onscreen or otherwise--would kill for the type of chemistry that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler share in the gyno-centric comedy BABY MAMA, even though the women are only playing friends. Fey stars as Kate, a 37-year-old vice president at an organic foods company whose womb starts a-kickin' every time she sees a baby. Though her career has kept her from marriage and children, she has decided that it's time for her to get pregnant. But multiple tries with in vitro fertilization leave her disappointed, and Kate turns to a surrogate mother. Enter Angie (Poehler), a high-school dropout desperate for the large check that comes with carrying someone's child. Though she agrees to be Kate's surrogate, it's clear that the women disagree on everything from music to the type of food Angie should be eating. When Angie leaves her apartment after a fight with her obnoxious common-law husband (Dax Shepard, EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH), she moves into Kate's posh Philadelphia apartment, and the women spend the rest of BABY MAMA alternately battling and bonding. Steve Martin appears in a small but enjoyable role as Kate's oily boss, and Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear gets good mileage out of playing her love interest. WEEDS star Romany Malco earns a bit more screen time--and plenty of laughs--as her over-involved doorman, but this is clearly Fey and Poehler's film. After several seasons of co-anchoring SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's "Weekend Update" together, the pair is reunited, and it feels good--for both the talented actresses and the audience. BABY MAMA pays less attention to the serious issues of pregnancy and motherhood than its baby-driven contemporaries--JUNO, WAITRESS, and KNOCKED UP--but this is simply a comedy, and a very funny one, that succeeds on the merits of its two lead actresses and their comedic talents.

	Maura Tierney
	Dax Shepard
	Romany Malco
	Holland Taylor
	Sigourney Weaver
	Steve Martin
	Tina Fey
	Greg Kinnear
	Amy Poehler
	John Goldwyn - Producer
	Jill Messick - Executive Producer
	Daryn Okada - Director of Photography
	Michael McCullers - Screenwriter
	Jeff Richmond - Composer
	Lorne Michaels - Producer
	Michael McCullers - Director

USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A]musing and enjoyable....This is a charming light comedy, enhanced by the chemistry between SNL mates Tina Fey and Amy Poehler." 04/26/2008

Los Angeles Times
"BABY MAMA is a love-fest, a good-natured buddy comedy....Poehler and Fey play against stereotype with sweet, unexpected results." 04/25/2008

Chicago Sun-Times
"[W]hile it is hilariously funny, BABY MAMA also makes some poignant statements about the nature of romantic relationships, the desire to parent and the whole concept of nurturing....Fey and Poehler are absolutely perfect in their roles..." 04/25/2008

Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he small moments, especially involving Fey, are sharp....She has become a madame comedy ambassador of her sex..." -- Grade: B 05/09/2008 p.44

Sight and Sound
"McCuller's script is sharp and zesty, piling up sly swipes at the infertility industries that treat motherhood as just another job to be outsourced." 08/01/2008 p.52

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Y]ou will find boundless delight in two people doing what they do best: being very, very funny." 08/01/2008 p.54

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he first smart, snappy 90 minutes should have the Amy Poehler fan club overrun with new members." 04/01/2009

Reel.com 5 of 10
Ah, the infant, cinema's biological cure-all. Give a movie a messed-up couple with a mountain of problems or a young woman working on several self-esteem issues, and watch as reproduction works its zygote-induced magic. From She's Having a Baby to Parenthood, Juno to Knocked Up, pregnancy and all the surrounding hormonal hoopla supposedly symbolizes life celebrating itself. In the new Tina Fey comedy Baby Mama, it's just a manipulative means to a grossly unfunny end...Even worse, the plot plods around aimlessly, looking for ways to capitalize on pop culture shout-outs (Video games! Hip-hop lingo!) and old-school stereotypes...Yet the biggest sin Baby Mama commits is being incessantly dull. McCullers' style could best be described as the setup for a punch line that never comes. He gives his actors room to breathe, and they consistently choke. Martin's New Age Zen zaniness grows tired quickly, and Fey can only move between nurturing and neurotic. Of everyone involved (including a completely underwritten Greg Kinnear as Fey's wuss in shining armor), only Poelher pulls off the material. She makes Angie semi-tolerable, redefining the dimwitted doofus for today's PC-oriented demo. - Bill Gibron

ReelViews 7 of 10
It has become a time-honored tradition that stars of Saturday Night Live, upon graduating from the no-longer-funny late night show, elect to spread their wings and strive for cinematic greatness. With a few notable exceptions, most have crashed and burned in forgettable fashion to never be heard from again or to become the punch lines of jokes that are generally as funny as the ones they told during their SNL tenure. Baby Mama is the first SNL-inspired movie to star two female members of the ensemble...While Baby Mama manages to avoid the pit of awfulness into which many of its predecessors have sunk, it achieves nothing more impressive than mediocrity...As is often true with comedies, all the best jokes are in the trailer so those who have seen it have absorbed the best Baby Mama has to offer, at least in the humor department. Fey and company do their best to provide an emotional component to the production but, as with many films that rely too much on the familiar, the characters never seem more than half-formed and this stints our ability to appreciate their limited arcs. There's nothing terribly wrong with Baby Mama but it's probably better suited for viewing on television, where many of the participants cut their teeth. - James Berardinelli