Buddy flicks have dealt with a wide variety of topics, from the run-of-the-mill road trip (most notably in "Road Trip" (2000), obviously) to science fiction films like "Men in Black" (1997). "Baby Mama" harkens back to female buddy flicks like "Thelma and Louise" (1991), albeit with a major twist: The two main characters are bound together by pregnancy.
This film is a thoroughly enjoyable comedy that explores what happens to successful women who choose to pursue their careers instead of motherhood.
The film follows Tina Fey, who headlines the film as Kate Holbrook, the vice president of Round Earth, a food supermarket chain very similar to Whole Foods. Steve Martin delivers a terrifically funny performance as the company's CEO. Influenced by Zen principles, Martin's character Barry is first introduced as he rambles on about being on the beach in the morning in Costa Rica, among other obnoxious travelogues of exotic places.
In a particularly funny scene, Barry calls Holbrook into his office and demands that she implement the "essence" of a seashell he found into the construction of the newest Round Earth location. Fey manages to keep a straight face and even acts encouraging toward Barry for his eccentric needs in designing the latest Round Earth store.
Holbrook is a successful businesswoman who has used multiple sperm donors to try to become pregnant. After her fertility specialist tells her that he doesn't like her uterus, she decides to hire a surrogate.
Holbrook's search for a surrogate includes another incredibly funny, albeit small, part for Sigourney Weaver. Weaver plays Chaffee Bicknell, the CEO of a company that conducts searches for surrogates, and who is herself an expecting mother.
Bicknell's pregnancy is a running joke throughout the film and one that works quite effectively. After she tells Angie, the surrogate played by Amy Poehler, that she is "expecting," Angie whispers, "What is she expecting? A Social Security check?" This style of biting humor is employed throughout the film and perfectly capitalizes on the tangible chemistry between the female leads.
Holbrook soon meets Angie, played by Poehler in a role that is terrifically over-the-top. Angie mines her character's variety of flaws for comic gold; indeed, Poehler steals the scene from Fey's straightedged Holbrook. Angie is a lower-class white woman from outside of Philadelphia with a similarly downtrodden boyfriend, Carl, interpreted by Dax Shepard of "Punk'd" fame. Carl and Angie's hilarious bickering drives a better part of the film and Angie eventually moves in with Holbrook after leaving Carl.
At its core, "Baby Mama" is a buddy flick that traces the developing bond between Holbrook and Angie. The on-screen chemistry between Fey and Poehler overwhelmingly exudes throughout the film. Angie and Carl arrive at Holbrook's beautiful apartment building in a dilapidated jalopy. As they scream at each other, Holbrook looks on in unmitigated terror. Poehler quickly turns Angie's demeanor from that of a seething wife to a pleasant one, and it is her wide range of emotions that makes the chemistry between Poehler and Fey's characters such a success. The two women quickly bond over Angie's decision to become a surrogate; Holbrook pleads her case to Angie and the two decide to go ahead with the plan.
Holbrook's single lifestyle changes once she meets Rob (played by Greg Kinnear), the owner of the Super Fruity smoothie shop, and the two begin to date. She is working for the "man" as he struggles to find success in his own smoothie shop - often compared to the "man" of the fruit smoothie industry, the powerful Jamba Juice.
It is in this courtship that the film makes its most glaring mistake. In giving Holbrook a male suitor, the writers seem to be proposing that Holbrook needs a man in her life to raise a baby or to find happiness. Though Kinnear plays his character well, turning Holbrook into a swooning woman was an unnecessary decision by writer-director Michael McCullers, and one that directly contrasts the film's message. Instead of equalizing each sex's abilities to climb the corporate ladder and have a family while being single, "Baby Mama" ultimately offers an undercooked romance.
"Baby Mama" is an extremely enjoyable film that cleverly lampoons the masculine corporate culture in the United States while also satirizing the Zen-like attitudes of the "organic" market. Its insightful critiques are all funnier because of the truth contained within them. These critiques, added to the incredible chemistry between Poehler and Fey, lead to a delightfully funny movie experience.
