So, I missed the sneak premiere of 'Baby Mama' last week in favor of a work-related event.  And I had these 'buy-one-get-one' coupons from Cinema Cafe.  Yep, you guessed it.  I took my daughter to see it Sunday afternoon -- with a pretty full theater for that time of day.  We ordered 4 entrees to avoid losing out on 2 free dinners and brought 1 3/4 meals home.  (I was HUNGRY, OK?)  The movie turned out not to be as bad as I feared after reading reviews.  In fact, I'd give it a $7.75 (1.-9.) on my 'not unhappy because I had to pay to see it' scale. 

Tina Fey is blessed to be able to write, act in, and produce funny stuff without losing her self-esteem.  Sure, she was a voice in "Hunger Force" (gag), but I was glad not to know it till I wrote this piece.  I first heard about her after she wrote "Mean Girls" - as I stopped watching SNL a couple of decades ago.  She's attractive without putting the rest of us off.  And she's smart enough to be  believable as a corporate star who can afford $100,000 to rent a womb for 9 months.  She plays Kate, the youngest VP ever in this representative organic food business.  She's obsessive compulsive and type A.  So when the books say your baby is a product of what you eat and listen to while pregnant, you'd better believe she soon leaves "I'm so happy you've given me this opportunity for a baby" and takes on an "I'm paying for your uterus, that's my baby, and you'll do as I say" attitude.  If any of you know these single, successful types of women,  this was not a stretch of fiction!!!

Amy Poehler, SNL alum and comedic blonde in the likes of "Blades of Glory" and "Mr. Woodcock", almost goes over the edge with the dumb, white-trash Angie.  Yet, she (and the writer) manages to pull back and only go for the absurd enough times for the real laughs.  I was surprised they got Dax Shepard to play her common-law husband, Carl, instead of frequent co-star and real husband, Will Arnett (her brother in 'Blades of Glory').  Yet, one of the funniest scenes is Carl's schizo attempt to get Angie back.  He threatens, conjoles, and begs.  When all else fails, he gives up and offers to have one last quickie in the back seat.  So romantic!  Oh, and who can foreget Angie's inability to open the child-proof toilet lid.  The sink idea was priceless.  They could have used the tub but that wouldn't have nearly been as funny. 

Another SNL alum, Michael McCullers, wrote and took his first directing turn with "Baby Mama".  A brief but thorough review of all alternate baby-making schemes was presented so we all couldn't say, "Why didn't she adopt?" or "Why didn't she try invitro?".  The adopt thing was kind of skimmed over cuz I totally think she could have done that.  For the sake of the story I suspended that thought quickly.  I have no idea if the sum is correct. I suspect it's not far off.  Some probably pay much more under the table quietly.  But that would be illegal to admit, you see.  Also, I don't know if the payments go so directly to the surrogates but that would make it very motivating for women who don't care if they need a hysterectomy at 40 because their uterus has fallen out. 

I cannot go without touching on Sigourney Weaver as Chaffee Bicknell, the plastically optimistic owner of the surrogacy business that puts Angie and Kate together.  The running gag about her age and repeated 'natural' pregnancies in the midst of all those barren women just added to the fun.  Steve Martin has a dull and wasted part as the eccentric owner of the food business for which Kate works.  He wears John Lennon clothes, has long grey hair in a worn in a loose ponytail, and practices all sorts of goofy existential nonsense.  He's mildly amusing, if that. 

The story weaves the long pregnancy with growth and change in the 2 main characters.  Kate learns to go outside her comfort zone while Angie learns to live with boundaries.  Greg Kinnear plays Rob, Kate's unlikely romantic interest.  The best outright comedic character was Romany Malco (Conrad Shepard in last year's "Weeds") as Oscar the doorman of Kate's building. 

The run time is 96 minutes and it's rated 'PG-13' for content more than anything truly offensive.  I an see why it made #1 at the box office.  Fun, light, good ending.  What more can you ask?  Want more realism?  Try the Baby Channel.

Look forward to seeing you at 'Iron Man'.  My review for "Made of Honor" will hit this blog tomorrow.  Stay tuned!