Official Synopsis:
Comedic geniuses Tina Fey (30 Rock, Saturday Night Live) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) team up to celebrate a modern twist on motherhood! Kate (Fey) is a single, successful career woman who wants something more: a baby. But she gets more than she bargained for when she hires Angie (Poehler), a free spirit from South Philly, to be her surrogate in a hysterical mama match-up. From birth class to baby-proofing, they're the ultimate odd couple that critics are calling "the best female comedy duo since Lucy and Ethel" (Claudia Puig, USA Today). With hilarious performances from an all-star cast featuring Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, and Sigourney Weaver, Baby Mama is as full of laughs as it is heart!

Our Take:
I enjoyed Baby Mama, but I feel like I was a little bit misled by the trailer. As the father of 18-month-old twins, I was expecting a movie about the trials and tribulations of pregnancy. After all, that’s what the trailer seemed to show and it’s also great fodder for good comedy. The film focuses, however, more on romantic entanglements, friendships, and a sub-plot that I can’t really discuss without giving away one of the film’s big surprises. The actual pregnancy part of the movie kind of takes a back seat to everything else.

Now, that may come as a relief to some of you reading this, and to be fair, I did find the movie funny and cute and endearing. Tina Fey proves that she can easily carry a film as well as a TV show, while Amy Poehler proves that she’s really funny, too, but mostly in small doses. I like Poehler, but I wish she’d tone it down a bit sometimes. It seems like she tries too hard to be funny all the time, and she veers into Molly Shannon-esque obnoxious territory more often than she needs to. But with an able supporting cast that includes a hilarious Steve Martin (“I’m going to reward you with five minutes of uninterrupted eye contact.”), a charming-as-always Greg Kinnear, the underutilized Holland Taylor, and the oft-underrated Maura Tierney and Dax Shepard, the movie works pretty well.

There’s a pretty solid collection of extra features on the DVD:

* Feature Commentary - With Writer/Director Michael McCullers, Producer Lorne Michaels And Cast Members Tina Fey & Amy Poehler.

* Deleted Scenes.
* Alternate Ending.
* From Conception To Delivery: The Making Of Baby Mama! - Utilizing behind the scenes footage and interviews, Writer/Director Michael McCullers, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver and Greg Kinnear take us through the hysterical journey of bringing “Baby Mama” to the screen.
* Saturday Night Live: Legacy Of Laughter - Tina Fey and Amy Poehler talk about what it’s like to work together with SNL alumnus Writer/Director Michael McCullers.

Baby Mama may or not be the movie you’re expecting it to be, but ultimately it’s a cute little comedy. It’s not going to be the kind of film you whip out and replay over and over again, but it’s an entertaining diversion for an evening, especially as a “date night” movie.

Overall Picture:
Movie: B
DVD: B

- Mike Spring

Editor