Uma Mãe para o Meu Bebê

There is a smattering of smart laughs in this 2008 comedy, but first-time director Michael McCullers really plods his own coincidence-driven script along with little sense of style or dramatic resonance. At times, it feels no better than a formulaic romantic comedy from the 1960's usually starring small-screen celebrities trying to break into the big time. Sure enough, this time, we are offered Tina Fey (currently of NBC's "30 Rock") and Amy Poehler, former "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update co-anchors and definitely the cream of the current funny lady crop. The problem is that McCullers, a one-time SNL staff writer who also co-wrote the Austin Powers movies with Mike Myers, doesn't elevate the screenplay much beyond the limited dimensions of an extended comedy sketch. That puts most of the pressure on the two women to make this farce work as a distaff version of "The Odd Couple" with a pregnancy angle, and they often - you should pardon the expression - deliver.

Ideally cast with her smart, bespectacled looks, Fey plays 37-year-old Kate Holbrook, single and professionally successful as the VP of an upscale organic supermarket chain much like Whole Foods. She hears her biological clock ticking and is taking every step possible to have a baby. Her last straw is to pay an agency $100,000 to find a surrogate. Naturally, her polar opposite shows up as the ideal candidate - a junk-food-eating, Red Bull-swilling piece of white trash named Angie Ostrowski who comes with her money-drubbing boyfriend Carl. Kate is so desperate she is practically begging Angie to carry her egg, so Angie willingly accepts. Somehow, the women end up living together during the pregnancy and inevitably get on each other's nerves, more Angie on Kate's nerves since a few revelations threaten to upend the deal. Convenience appears to trump logic in tying up the plot's loose ends, of which there are many. However, McCullers' alternately sauntering and piercing Judd Apatow-like approach helps compensate for the bigger lapses.

A game cast also helps. Although fairly limited as an actress, Fey is sharp and likable as the often dour Kate and has the ability to bring the implausibility of her character's situation into more human focus. Even though she is entirely too old for her role, Poehler is a more natural comic presence as Angie, terrifically manic but surprisingly poignant during key moments. It's obvious their joint casting has more to do with their proved rapport than dramatic credibility. In a turn worthy of Jeff Foxworthy, Dax Shepard credibly makes Carl a mercenary sheep. Romany Malco (memorable as Andy's horned-up co-worker in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin") is given little to do as the streetwise doorman, the same fate of Maura Tierney bland as Kate's supportive sister. Greg Kinnear must be getting awfully tired playing the same type of romantic foil over and over again, but he does do it well even though his scenes also seem strangely truncated. Two veterans threaten to steal the picture in acts of petty larceny - a pony-tailed Steve Martin very funny as Kate's Zen-seeking boss whose idea of a reward is allowing her to stare at him for five minutes, and Sigourney Weaver as the overtly self-satisfied and all-too-fertile head of the agency. SNL regulars Will Forte and Fred Armisen show up in cameos. A fitfully funny farce.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler prove that buddy comedies need not be the exclusive domain of naughty boys.

"Baby Mama" is no comic masterpiece, but it's at least as good as any number of formulaic comedies churned out by Hollywood and much better than many others. Fey is the uptight career woman who hears her biological clock ticking at 37 and wants to have a baby before it's too late. Poehler is the low-class, free-wheeling blonde who agrees to be her surrogate mother for a hefty fee. The usual odd-couple conflicts ensue, maternal instincts kick in, and in traditional sitcom style, everyone gets what they want in the end.

The movie is mostly an excuse to give Fey and Poehler the chance to riff off of one another, and they do it well. Poehler especially displays the ability to carry a movie, something most SNL veterans aren't able to do. She's funny, but she's also able to embody an actual character rather than simply do skit-T.V. schtick. Just watch her horrified face the first time she tastes water; or the hilarious scene when Fey wrestles her into the shower and begins to scrub the hair dye off of her head in a scene that spoofs "Silkwood."

Also starring Greg Kinnear as a smoothie store owner, and a whacked out Steve Martin as Fey's new age boss.

Grade: A-

There weren't too many people hotter than Tina Fey in 2008. Between the smash comedy 30 Rock, her impression of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and taking the lead for the first time in a movie with "Baby Mama," Fey and her iconic black-rimmed glasses have soared above and beyond Saturday Night Live. While the film "Baby Mama" might not be her most notable exploit, it's brand of subtle humor works in her favor and makes for an enjoyable film.

Fey plays Kate, a late thirties (her true age) businesswoman who has never been married and is also incapable of conceiving a child though she desperately wants one. When Kate stumbles across an agency specializing in surrogate pregnancy, she meets Angie, a high school dropout played by SNL's Amy Poehler, and the two agree that Angie will have Kate's baby. When Angie's trash boyfriend Carl (Dax Shepard) cheats on her, she moves in with Kate and the two have to reconcile their conflicting lifestyles.

Though Fey carries her own comedic presence in her reactions to the bizarre characters around her, it's Poehler's character that is meant to serve as comic relief in her mis-educated habits in life and in pregnancy. She provides a variety of physical humor and also gets some laughs at her character for her sheer ignorance, though it's pretty hit-or-miss with her. While in a lot of her work she can come off as annoying, she's a bit more mild in this film.

The rest of a cast is full of high profile actors in smaller roles and other familiar faces to boost the unproven star power of Fey and Poehler. Greg Kinnear plays Fey's love interest, who is just supposed to be a "nice guy" and nothing more and Maura Tierney of "ER" plays Fey's sister. Top that off with appearances by Steve Martin as Fey's zen/hippie boss and Sigourney Weaver as the head of the surrogate agency and there's plenty of time for "look who it is!" amazement as you watch.

"Baby Mama" doesn't throw anything unusual at us from a comedy stand point, especially being released not even a year after Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up" provided a similar concept, but it has its own subtle, very SNL-like comedic style. That might be easy to say because Fey, Poehler and creator Michael McCullers connections to the show, but like SNL sketches, "Baby Mama" relies on the talents of its actors in creating nutty characters and the way the "normal" characters perceive them. While this doesn't work all the time, it gets better toward the end and the plot keeps you interested enough to wear you certainly don't dismiss it and you may even really like it.

When I first saw the trailer for Baby Mama, I just thought this movie was going to be a total disaster, it didn't look funny and like another typical chick flick. But my friends wanted to see it, so we saw it opening weekend, and actually I was surprised, I did like a lot better than what I was expecting. Baby Mama is something that looks like from the Lifetime Network, but it's all good, it has some really funny moments and was just cute. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are two very funny women from Saturday Night Live, they also did Mean Girls together and made their characters an absolute joy to watch, so seeing them as the leads in this film was going to be an interesting turn. Tina Fey definitely has a lot of talent not only as a writer, but as an actress, she made her character believable and as neuritic as she was, she was still likable. Amy Poehler made her character a little too SNL at times, but these girls made the movie enjoyable and a fun flick to watch for the afternoon.

Kate is a single and successful woman who seems to have it all in life, but one thing she wants so bad is a baby. But one problem, her uterus isn't liked by her doctor, in other words, she has a one in a million chance of getting pregnant. After adoption woes and sperm donor failures, she decides to get a sergeant mother who will get pregnant and give her a child. She meets white trash couple, Angie and Carl. Angie moves into Kate's apartment after her break up with Carl, so this "odd couple" has to teach each other some new moves in life.

Baby Mama is actually worth the watch, I was very impressed with how much I liked it, like I said, from the trailer, it doesn't seem like a good movie, but when you watch it, you get the laughs and the smiles that the movie promises. It is a chick flick, warning to people who have a strong hatred for them, but I'm not a fan of chick flicks, and you know what? I thought that this was just a fun movie that if you let go and even enjoy the predictability, you'll find yourself loving Baby Mama.

7/10

Fey and Poehler were the 'Saturday Night Live' dream team. Consistently witty and constantly hilarious. But these results are usually produced when they are performing their own writing. McCullers, mostly of 'Austin Powers' fame, unfortunately places too many restraints on these two leads that consequently hold the overall comedy back, despite its sweet lighthearted tone. A single businesswoman, who mostly puts her career before her personal life, desires to conceive a baby but is unable to due to certain complications. She then proceeds to go down the surrogacy route and forces her lifestyle choices upon the surrogate mother.

"I don't like your uterus, I really don't like your uterus". It's a warm tale on motherhood, executed at such a pedestrian pace that it's as if McCullers, who opted to direct this also, was imitating a baby's first steps. It's slow, mostly wobbly, but you can't help but smile at the effort put in. Fey and Poehler emit their natural chemistry once again, and it truly is infectious. The supporting cast also had a few humorous moments, especially the legend that is Weaver who only has to smile and I'm laughing hysterically. Unfortunately the material that out leads are given prevents them from showing their true comedic talents. Rarely did I snigger let alone laugh, which is a dire shame considering my adoration for the SNL dream team. McCullers approach to the idea of surrogacy was naively basic, and it's because of this that the film ultimately felt underwhelming.

The dialogue between them surprisingly lacked personality, conforming to predictable clichéd traits for each character. It probably doesn't help that I dislike babies/infants/most small humans, so shoving a dozen of them in my face almost immediately was probably an indicator. Still, its light endeavours into surrogacy using two of my favourite comedians made for a watchable yet forgettable "comedy" that was absent of laughs. Needed Weaver to release her inner Ripley, then we have a film worth investing in!