"Baby Mama" movie review

In the last week before the unofficial early start to the summer movie season, we watched Baby Mama (PG-13). The movie stars Tina Fey as a career woman looking for a surrogate mother (Amy Poehler) to carry her baby. First time director Michael McCullers directs Romany Malco, Sigourney Weaver, and Steve Martin costar.

Andy: The summer season can't get here soon enough, as this is likely the last questionable movie we'll have to watch for a while. It seems like I've been writing “first-time-director” a lot lately, and the results have not generally been good. This is no exception, as the movie is uninspired, poorly put together, and not all that funny. It's not horrible, but it doesn't really do any one thing very well.

Ryan: If the premise of Baby Mama would have been compressed to a Saturday Night Live skit or to a sub-plot on 30 Rock it might have made for some interesting and funny TV. But as a feature film Baby Mama fails to leave an impression. It isn't a terrible movie but it certainty isn't a memorable one. Through no fault of the two leads, the movie plays like a mediocre sitcom. It has a few laughs but it's too predictable, too stagnant and too boring to fully recommend being seen on the silver screen.

Andy: I would not be so quick to absolve Fey and Poehler. Fey did little but show that she can't (or isn't willing) to step too far from her 30 Rock character. As for Poehler, I think she has potential as a comedic actor, but I also think I've never seen her live up to that potential.

Ryan: I made (what proved to be an inaccurate assumption) that because Fey was starring in the movie that she had contributed some material to the story. After all she is one of the most successful comedic television writers in Hollywood. The lone writing credit belongs to Micheal McCullers, who also directed the movie. And while I'm sure that Fey and Poehler had some input into the movie-making process, the bottom line is that this film belongs to McCullers; thus the film's shortcomings can be attributed to him as well. This is his first directorial effort and the results (or lack thereof) speak for themselves.

Andy: We've piled on pretty heavily here, and that may be a little unfair. This is not a movie completely devoid of laughter. It has moments that are pretty entertaining (mostly scenes with Romany Malco), but it does not have a compelling enough story to overcome the lack of consistent laughter. However, there is no doubt that this movie will be quickly forgotten once the big movies start coming out in the next few weeks.

Ryan: The movie opened number one and I think that's alright in this case because I like the two leads—especially Tina Fey. I just would have preferred that Fey and Poehler could have starred in a more suitable vehicle that would have better suited their comedic abilities. Like I said earlier the movie isn't a complete debacle. It is very watchable and it's moderately entertaining. Although it simply glosses over the issues of a surrogate pregnancy, it does at the very least push the issue into the mainstream consciousness.

Baby Mama is a below average comedy. Final grade: C-.