A successful, single businesswoman who dreams of having a baby discovers she is infertile and hires a working-class woman to be her unlikely surrogate.
Comedy duos are priceless in the film industry and one can never forget the duo that is Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Making another serious topic into a silly and unpredictable adventure is a talent that is underappreciated in the industry and “Baby Mama” was a movie that was past its time during its initial release. While the film doesn’t seem to pass some audience’s political correctness test, it’s important to remember the value of satirical humor when enjoying this film.
Tina Fey is introduced as Kate Holbrook, an accomplished vice president of an organic food company and a workaholic who has no time for men and games. Instead, she feels a sudden need to procreate but due to a T-shaped uterus, her doctor claims infertility. To our pleasure, Amy Poehler comes to save the day and is introduced as Angie, the surrogate mother to solve all of Kate’s plight and struggle for a child. Angie is a wild and undisciplined high school dropout, living with her husband Cark Loomis (Dax Shepherd) and attempting to use the surrogacy program as a means of cashing a largely valued check at the expense of Kate. However, Angie leaves Carl for being a lying cheat and interrupts all of Kate’s plans by living with her. Thus, ensues a series of hilarious and deranged performances from Fey and Poehler.
While surrogacy is not uncommon these days, “Baby Mama” was released at a time when surrogacy was considered to be more taboo. Thus, the film’s topic of surrogacy was all the more groundbreaking, especially as it introduces surrogacy through comedy. Casting Sigourney Weaver as Chaffee Bicknell, the face of fertility and the surrogacy program, was a brilliant move. It’s hard to stand seeing Chaffee onscreen but Weaver is a delight as she thrives with her performance as a baby mama. Chaffee may be old but she’s fertile and that’s all she needs to be the devil to Kate’s plight.
“Baby Mama” is a very fitting title as there is plenty of “baby mama drama” to go around. While it’s easy to associate such drama between a deadbeat man and a naive woman, it’s clear that “Baby Mama” is a metaphor for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s chemistry (and perhaps an internal desire to be each other’s baby mamas that’s manifested into a film rather than a real-life scenario).
Available on DVD February 16th from Mill Creek Entertainment
