SYNOPSIS:
Sharp comic talents collide in this hilarious comedy
of opposites. Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey – 30 Rock) an
uptight single executive, has put her career first all her
life. At 37, she finally decides to have a baby, but discovers
she has only a small chance of becoming pregnant. Desperate,
Kate decides to use a surrogate mom, but her uptight world
is turned upside down when free-spirited Angie (Amy Poehler
– Blades of Glory) moves in to her apartment and the
pair engage in a comic battle of wills.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The McCain-Palin team may have lost the race for the White
House, but the other Mrs Sarah Palin is already a winner.
Yes, I’m talking about Tina Fey, whose SNL stint as
the vice-residential nominee received critical raves.
Of
late, the SNL alum has proven herself to be the quite the
golden girl of comedy, with her self-conceived "30 Rock"
comedy series sweeping almost all the major Emmys in its category.
It is no wonder then that the veteran TV actress has now made
the big screen leap with another one of her SNL alums, Amy
Poehler.
Sadly,
however, while its stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler do not disappoint
with their spot on comedic timing, their first big-screen
outing Baby Mama can best be described as a letdown. What
could go wrong, you ask, with a cast of Fey and Poehler, together
with big names like the always charming Greg Kinnear, the
rowdy Dax Shepard and even an uncredited appearance by "Father
Of The Bride" himself Steve Martin?
A
lot, and writer-director Michael McCullers is squarely to
blame for this ho-hum affair. To his credit, the story begins
promisingly enough as successful middle-aged career woman
Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) describes her midlife crisis of sorts
when after all these years, she realises that her biological
clock is fast ticking away. Isn’t it the natural imperative
of a woman to have children of her own, she laments. Unfortunately,
it is not as easy for her. Her insensitive doctor blames her
inability to get pregnant on her 'T-shaped' uterus after several
IVFs prove unsuccessful.
So
Kate engages Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler) to be her 'baby
mama' (really, just a euphemism for surrogate mother). But
Angie’s rocky relationship with her boyfriend, Carl
(Dax Shepard) forces her to move in with Kate which sets off
a series of predictable clashes between upper-crust working
lady Kate and working class girl Angie. Throw in a romance
between Kate and juice store owner Rob Ackerman (Greg Kinnear)
and you better much can guess how everything else unfolds.
But
predictable is not so much the letdown of this movie than
unfunny. The first hint of this is when writer-director McCullers
has Kate and Angie looking like long-lost lovers meeting each
other at the in-vitro fertilisation operation room to the
tune of Lionel Ritchie’s "Endless Love". Perhaps
the worst of all is Barry (played by Steve Martin), Kate’s
hippie-looking white-haired pony-tailed boss of her organic
food company, whose off-putting means to inspiration include
getting her to sit on top of the conference table to experience
'the air up there'.
Luckily, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are still a joy to watch
on screen. The scene where Kate and Angie bond over American
Idol karaoke at Kate’s apartment is a hoot but unfortunately
such moments of comedic glee are quite few and far in between.
In
the end, what is supposed to be a breakout big-screen role
for the current reigning comedy queen of TV turns out to be
simply a middling affair. It is passably entertaining for
a lazy Sunday afternoon but ultimately a disappointment given
its pedigree of comedic talent.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
There are six deleted scenes totalling 6 minutes. One scene
involving using a breast pump particularly stands out from
the rest. The DVD is round up with Burn After Reading and
Hellboy II trailers.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There
are three audio tracks present here (English, Japanese, Thai).
Granted this is supposed to be a romantic comedy, there’s
nothing much in the movie though to be experienced on the
English 5.1 track. Good visual transfer that complements the
movie’s bright visual colour palette.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
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