My Baby's Daddy

After watching the trailer for My Baby's Daddy, I thought it would be an interesting movie to watch. After seeing the reviews I looked the other way and my expectations for this movie dropped. All I have to say is do not let the reviews turn you away from this movie. This movie has an amazing way of delivering comedy and morals at the same time. Sure it is unlikely that three best friends will all get their girlfriends pregnant at the same time, but it was still well put together.

One of the drawbacks to this movie was its predictability. But what movie these days isnt? It delivered laughs like the previews promised, and it delivered hope. It shows us confidence, how to stand up for yourself. It shows us to take a step up in life and take charge. It shows us that change is good. Even though you dont want to go through it, sometimes you have to. And most importantly it shows us to do the right thing...for yourself, and the people you love. Overall this movie is well worth watching. Granted I would not go out and see it again, but I sure am glad I got to watch it, and if I had the choice to go back and do it again, I would. ***

Friends Lonnie, G and Dominic grew up together and, as young men, moved in together temporarily. Years later they are still in the same place living a party lifestyle and working days just to fund it. One night they hook up with their partners or lovers and all three find themselves fathers to be when they all turn out to be equally clueless in the world of birth control. More than a year later they are all facing the same challenges together as they enter fatherhood.

With the titles and cartoon sequence opening the film, I had low hopes for this film and I can confirm that the film just about met all of them. The plot is of course contrived and is little more than a series of unlikely relationship developments designed to generate laughs and easy comedy. Which is where it all falls flat because there is hardly a laugh to be had in the whole 90 minutes. The humour is not as base as it could have been but it never misses an opportunity to deliver jokes based on racial stereotypes, bodily functions and so on. None of it is very clever but I can see why some undemanding viewers would find it to be sufficient. The character stories behind it are mostly poorly conceived, poorly developed and poorly delivered.

The cast match this standard and deliver nothing more than the basics. Anderson mugs along like he often does and the effect is laziness incarnate. Griffin is equally poor and doesn't add much to anything although he isn't helped by his plot being so poor. Imperioli at least has the good taste to look a bit out of place and uncomfortable. The women in the cast are mainly eye candy but in fairness they are mostly very good eye candy. Parker is a growling cliché of a character that could only be more racially insensitive if played by Barbara Streisand in blackface. However Bacalso, Thomason and Ling are all stunning and sexy, regardless of what the material asks of them.

A roundly poor comedy that has very little to recommend it for. Its aims seem low and in that regard it hits its targets, which will maybe suffice for some viewers, but not for me.

This movie was actually more than mildly amusing for me. Most of the comedy was good, and sometimes I even laughed out loud. The only part that repulsed me was making the babies talk (as seen in the preview), but at least there was some kind of reason for it and it didn't last too long.

Yes, most of the plot was predictable, but it was still a good story. It moves quickly between the three men, but the three of them go through similar ordeals so it's not confusing. My favorite parts were those with G and his lover's Chinese family, and the role Eddie Griffin played as Lonnie. Even if you don't think "My Baby's Daddy" is your type of movie, you might actually like it.

There's a long-standing rule of thumb in the motion picture business that the more writers who have a hand in making a movie the worse that movie will turn out to be. In the case of `My Baby's Daddy,' it took four scenarists (who shall remain nameless) to come up with this excruciatingly bad multi-ethnic rip off of `Three Men and a Baby.' The plotting comes direct from the TV sitcom factory: three bachelors, who have never grown up into responsible adulthood, simultaneously find themselves the fathers of three adorable infants. Naturally, after much initial bumbling and stumbling in the ways of parenthood, the three men learn what the true definition of manhood is.

Though the movie has some fun lampooning racial and ethnic stereotypes, the humor is generally so bland, broad and formulaic that any promise the movie offers that it might somehow qualify as satire quickly evaporates. Instead, the movie goes all soft and gooey, trying to get the audience to coo over the cute toddlers and sigh at the sight of three grown men who are themselves cooing over their toddlers.

Considering the material that's been handed them, one hesitates to be too harsh on the actors who find themselves trapped in this mess. However, because of guilt by association, the only people who escape entirely unscathed are the toddlers themselves, since they are clearly the only ones here still under the age of consent.

My Baby's Daddy is a semi-comic tale of three friends who all get their girlfriends pregnant at the same time and are suddenly thrown into the job of father. This film stars comedian Eddie Griffin (Coneheads, John Q, Undercover Brother), Anthony Anderson (Big Mommas House, Me, Myself & Irene, Barbershop) and Michael Imperioli (Goodfellas, Bad Boys, Summer of Sam). This obvious rendition of Three Men and a Baby has the potential to be a funny and touching film, but falls short in several categories. The film opens with a really fun and fresh animation sequence, telling the story of the boys growing up together, getting in trouble and establishing their characters. Griffin plays Lonnie, the nerd of the group, who is hopelessly in love with a slut who uses him for his money. Anderson plays G, a lighthearted guy who has dreams to be the next Rocky. Imperioli is Dominic, a self proclaimed player who is trying to produce Hip Hop records. Anderson is by far the most interesting of the three friends, but still comes short. The biggest problem with the film is that the comedy and the spirit of the story are not consistent. There are some genuinely funny and touching moments that lead the audience to think there might be some substance to the film- as soon as you think that, the moment is ruined by a fart joke or some over the top, quasi-comedic attempt. Some times it feels like a touching light comedy only to have the humor whip into a crude, farcical hodge-podge. Griffin does his typical thing, swapping his look around as he transforms from a goggle-glasses wearing nerd, to an afro sporting, FUBU clad player. Anderson has some interesting banter between himself and his Chinese girlfriend's father. Whereas this might be an interesting dynamic to have, the writers messed it up with cheap shots to Asian names by coming up with sarcastic, 80's-esque names for her family; Fung Yu, Bling Bling, and others just as dismal. Imperioli is a throw-away character who really accomplishes nothing in the film. He's used to get to jokes about poser white rappers and an excuse to get two girls to kiss. Overall there are a few chuckles mixed in there, but what could have been a fun and touching film about three guys growing into fatherhood, turned into a mix of crude jokes and gags loosely linked by a story about babies. Time to grow up, boys. This is a very generous 4/10 star feature.