Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Baby Mama - DVD Review

BABY MAMA (***) - Starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Sigourney Weaver, Romany Malco, Maura Tierney, Holland Taylor, John Hodgman, James Rebhorn and Siobhan Fallon Hogan.
Directed by Michael McCullers.

30 Rock is a hit partially because Tina Fey is so willing to share the spotlight and concede the floor to her co-stars. Her persona lends itself to being straight man to whoever wanders in. Fey's also demonstrating a good nose for material. Mean Girls was a good movie, 30 Rock won its second Emmy, and now here comes a traditional SNL buddy comedy, except the buddies are women this time around.

Fey plays a career-first woman who suddenly finds herself at age 37 and regretting her single, childless state. She looks into adoption and in-vitro fertilization, but they don't turn out to be viable options. She seeks a surrogate mother, going through a reputable agency, but she lands Amy Poehler's free spirit, who winds being a little bit psycho.

Steve Martin gets a lot of laughs as her new-age boss at an organic foods company. Greg Kinnear is adequate as the obligatory love interest. Other SNL cast members pop up in decent cameos for positive effect.

Is it formula? Absolutely. But at least it's funny.

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