Baby Mama Review

Overall 4.20 of 5 view all 5 reviews

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LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

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Left Smiling, But Not Laughing As Much As I Wanted To

Movie Reviewer, A Big Giant Sap, a storyteller

Pros

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, Greg Kinnear, surprising warmth

Cons

Not as funny as it could be

APR

2008

I don't know what it is about Saturday Night Live veterans that make the move to film. They're either wildly successful, like Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and Will Ferrell, or they can never quite get it going like Kevin Nolan, Julia Sweeney, and Joe Piscopo. With the news that two of the more recent veterans of the show, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, were doing the film Baby Mama together, I wanted to think it would be just terrific, but I just wasn't too sure.

I came away from it having definitely laughed, and if you've seen the previews with Poehler peeing in the sink and asking the LaMaze expert if you can spray Pam on the vagina to get it lubricated, you know it's funny. But like some films, are these the only funny parts to the film, the ones you've already seen in the previews, or does it keep you rolling on the floor and slapping your knee throughout? The answer is neither. It has enough funny parts in it, such as Fey telling her mom that being single isn't an alternative lifestyle, and Poehler's common-law husband sitting on the toilet waiting for Red, Red Wine to play so that he can be the 103.7th caller to a radio station. Yet, with this cast, there should be more!

Adding to the belief that it should have pushed the envelope and become a little funnier, are the two male co-stars, Steve Martin and Greg Kinnear. Martin playing Fey's boss at a natural foods company, definitely has his funny moments, walking around saying things like he remembers swimming with the dolphins and thinking he was a good person doing good things, and later crouching atop the meeting table promoting Fey.

Kinnear's role in the film doesn't seem to be so much as the funny guy, but to bring the warmth, as the owner of a fruit smoothie bar that becomes Fey's suitor. Poehler's character sees auras on people, and I think there has to be a really nice warm glow around Kinnear here. Come to think of it, I think he always has a warm glow around him, no matter what film he's in.

And after we've laughed throughout Baby Mama, waiting to laugh more, but not ever getting as much as we want, some of Kinnear's warmth runs off on the film, and the ending is very warm, without any humor jokes really at all. It all combines for an enjoyable movie, and I walked out smiling, even though I did wish to be thinking more of the funny parts at that point, instead of the warm feeling I was left with.

Last edited on May 02, 2008