Baby Mama (2008)

 

cast: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, Steve Martin

 

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: PG13

reviewed by Charity Bishop

It is a problem that many career women face -- becoming too old to have children while attempting to become successful in the workplace. There are alternatives. Medical assistance. Adoption. And surrogate mothers. Baby Mama is the collaborative effort of the team behind Saturday Night Live. It is a funny and often touching glimpse into motherhood, personal responsibility, and surrogacy. Just don't take it seriously.

The biological clock has been ticking for Kate Holbrook (Fey) for quite awhile. In her twenties, she scoffed at marriage and the concept of motherhood but now she cannot keep her mind off it. Every baby she encounters in the street makes her smile. But so far her Mr. Right has not come along and with her tight work schedule with an organic food company, there's not much hope of an immediate solution. So she turns to alternatives. First, she tries medical solutions but is informed that her womb is misshaped and she will never bear children. Then she tries adoption, but that can take years. Finally, with the encouragement of an annoying always-pregnant older woman named Chaffee Bicknell (Weaver), she decides to try a surrogate program. This is where she meets the gum-snapping, Dr. Pepper-drinking, sugar-addicted Angie (Poehler), who is involved in a common law marriage and is interested in the $100,000 check that goes along with the job.

Angie decides that she likes Kate and wants to have "her baby." Everything is fine for awhile -- until Angie leaves her common law husband and moves in with Kate. The pair of them are like oil and water. Angie doesn't want to take her vitamins. She hates health food. She sticks her gum under the coffee table. Kate on the other hand is obsessed with organic nutrition, won't let Angie re-dye her roots ("chemicals are bad for babies!") and is running ragged trying to be a good vice president for her company. That's when she meets Rob (Kinnear), a former lawyer turned juice man. Things are about to become complicated -- there are several lies, a few surprises, and a couple of fights in store for the women involved. Not to mention a baby.

This film amused me for several reasons. First, because as an organic conservative, I saw some of my own behavioral patterns and eating practices reflected in Kate. (Although, hopefully I would never yank food out of someone's mouth and give them a lecture on addictives.) The film is making fun of the organic crowd but also makes a few statements about the importance of health during pregnancy. (Angie reluctantly has given up drinking soda by the end of the film.) One of the funnier characters is played by Steve Martin, who is always in some kind of "Zen zone." He is concerned with auras and passing good karma, but there's nothing too New Age preached in the actual plot. The second enjoyable thing is the two leading ladies, who came to my attention during the last elections. (Fey caricatured Sarah Palin several times, and Poehler did Hillary Clinton.) They are very funny together, very good at ad-libbing on the spot, and have a nice chemistry, rather like two sisters who love each other but who really cannot stand one another.

Most of the content is mild but there is enough of it that I cannot recommend it too readily for family viewing. Because it is a film about surrogacy, there is a lot of conversation about various injections, practices, and the ins and outs of pregnancy. Sex is mentioned in passing a few times, usually in context of getting pregnant the "old fashioned way." It's implied but not shown that Angie and Rob sleep together on their first date. There are some innuendos (a Lamaze teacher mistakes them for a lesbian couple) and both girls show cleavage several times. There are a half dozen profanities and mild abuses of God's name. I was pleased that Angie used "effing" instead of the alternative in a conversation. (One f-word was cut from the film, and is in the deleted scenes.) Unable to get the baby safety lock off the toilet, Angie pees in the sink.

The biggest moral flaw here is that no one is married. That is not altogether surprising but bears mentioning. I personally have no problem with single-parent adoption even though I believe it is wiser and healthier for the child to have two parents, but Kate's ambition to be a single mom might bother some viewers. Angie's irresponsibility while pregnant might raise a few eyebrows (she sneaks a drink or two, and continues to smoke). But it was also the most fun I have had watching a movie in quite awhile. I think for women (men might be a little bored or grossed out) it's an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours pondering the majesty of motherhood.