Even as unwed motherhood is declining in the US, it’s becoming a minor epidemic in American cinemas. Unlike some of her on-screen sisters, Tina Fey’s character has been trying to get pregnant, but that hasn’t worked out. Enter Amy Poehler as the surrogate she hires, via an agency. There’s a slight parallel with Helen Hunt’s character in Then She Found Me (released a week later), who’s also nearing 40 and wants a biological child. However, the better parallel is to Knocked Up, in which Seth Rogen’s underachiever tries to mesh with the professional gal he’s impregnated. Baby Mama, a directorial debut for Austin Powers co-writer Michael McCuller, is less funny, but part of what both movies are about is class. At first blush, it seems like the Poehler character will simply be a crass and nutrition-averse pox on health-food exec Fey’s snooty Philadelphia house. Theirs is a forced marriage without the sex. But that only forms part of the story; both characters are sympathetic, making Poehler a female counterpart to Rogen, not Adam Sandler. Supporting characters account for some of the funnier parts, including Dax Shepard as Poehler’s low-life boyfriend, and Sigourney Weaver as the over-50, yet infuriatingly fertile, operator of the surrogate agency. Some romantic comedy elements come courtesy of Greg Kinnear, whose regular-guy vibe is a match for emerging star Fey.
IMDB link
viewed 5/3/08
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