Back in the old days, non-upper crust parents weren't terribly concerned about the betterment of their children. As long as they could work on the farm or factory and thus earn their keep, the status quo of generation after generation was basically considered a fine thing.
Once kids weren't needed as much to help out, the attention shifted to their education, in hopes that they'd have a better life than their parents. That eventually segued into what we have now, over-scheduled children who barely have time to experience the fleeting fun of what it means to be a kid.
Of course, while many a parent nowadays works hard to get their kids participating in almost every available activity (thinking that will give them a leg up on the competition), some don't pay attention to one of the most important arenas of development. And that's what occurs inside the womb, when what the mother puts into her body and experiences from a mental, emotional and physical standpoint directly or indirectly affects the life she's carrying.
Many can control most or all of that, except when an unborn child happens to be developing in a surrogate mother's belly. In such a situation, you're at the mercy of how that carrier behaves, and that very situation can lead to tension, particularly if the biological and surrogate mothers don't exactly come from the same background.
That's the premise of "Baby Mama," the first cinematic child of screenwriter turned director Michael McCullers who dons both creative hats here after cutting his movie teeth penning the latter two "Austin Powers" flicks (among others). Although he delivered the goods in those pics (to varying degrees of success), the humor doesn't quite reach full term here, mainly due to incomplete prenatal planning.
While he's assembled a good cast -- both in terms of lead performers and those backing them up -- what's missing is a crackerjack script that takes full advantage of the obviously fertile material. Some decent laughs are scattered throughout the offering, but the screenplay lacks the necessary edginess required to make it sizzle. And with Tina Fey showing up for her first leading role, it's too bad McCullers didn't give her the double-duty of also penning the material.
One assumes some of what occurs on the screen is the result of improv between her and her former "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update co-anchor, Amy Poehler. Yet, what's missing is the snarkiness that pervaded Fey's script for "Mean Girls." Without that, the result is a flick that offers some amusing moments, but otherwise is too pedestrian, broadly played and predictable to take us into the third trimester, uh, act, and get us to root for it to fully deliver.
Trying to play up the socioeconomic differences between his two main characters, McCullers takes what presumably looked like the surefire route for laughs: Forcing the two women to become roommates. While some may laugh at the chewing gum under the table bit, the safety locked toilet resulting in Poehler's character peeing in the sink and other such gags as funny in one way or another, the "Odd Couple" pairing doesn't provide as many laughs as one might hope for and/or expect.
The same holds true for the casting of Steve Martin as a new age corporate head of the company where Fey's character works. A scene where his character rewards hers with 5 minutes of uninterrupted eye contact is amusing (mainly because you can see Fey trying not to crack up), but like the rest of the film, the delivery isn't completely fulfilling.
Of course, he fares better than Sigourney Weaver whose middle-aged character's successful fertility becomes the butt of various ageism jokes. Greg Kinnear can't do much playing Fey's love interest, Dax Shepherd pretty much plays the same character type he always does, and Maura Tierney is completely wasted in the throwaway sister role. Only Romany Malco gets a few moments to shine, but his outrageous but wise doorman character is the type we've seen in countless other films, thus removing any sort of novelty element.
I'm sure there will be those who absolutely love this movie and will think it's the cutest thing ever. Of course, they're likely the same ones who have that sort of response to all newborns, some of which -- sorry -- just aren't adorable in those early days (but usually end up growing into good-looking kids and then adults). Sadly, movies don't get that chance to develop into something better, and thus you're stuck with what's delivered. While "Baby Mama" has some fun and funny moments, they're not enough to make us constantly smile and laugh at the "cute" little things it does. The film rates as a 4.5 out of 10.
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