BABY MAMA (2008)

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"Tina Fey should've given contraceptions to this mediocre script and birth one of her own"

Tina Fey is a goddess among writing geeks, influencing the comedy world since her tenure as the first female head writer of "Saturday Night Live" from 1999 to 2006. Her sharp wit and talent for writing relevant material resonates loudly.

Unfortunately, she didn't birth "Baby Mama."

From the pen of former "SNL" writer and scripter of the two "Austin Powers" sequels Michael McCullers, "Baby Mama" centers on career-driven Kate Holbrook (Fey) who choose moving ahead in the world over starting a family. She heads development at Round Earth, a Whole Foods-style organic supermarket, lead by the eccentric, New Age-inspired Barry (Steve Martin). Now in her 30s, Kate is desperate to have a baby, exploring every possible potential suitor: upper management "who kiss you on the lips during Christmastime" to doing a Conan O'Brien style "If They Mated" computer animation at the in vitro fertilization clinic. However, as one doctor tells Kate, "I just don't like your uterus."

After an adoption attorney denies her request, Kate must turn to surrogacy. Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver) and her surrogacy center charge $100,000, saying the reason it costs more to make a baby than have someone killed is because "it takes longer."

Enter dim-witted, lower middle-class Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler) and her deadbeat husband Carl (Dax Shepard) rolling up to Kate's upscale Philadelphia apartment in a half-busted down Suzuki, blasting the thumping beats of hardcore rap. Doorman to Kate's building, Oscar (Romany Malco) notes she's getting into some "baby mama drama."

After leaving Carl for cheating, Angie shows up at Kate's apartment, taking over all fabric of her clean-cut, by-the-book image. At the same time, while Angie pumps down Red Bull and Pringles while carrying the fetus, Kate stocks up on baby books and infant-proofing her home, including a toilet lid lock that even Angie can't figure out how to pen.

Kate's job is also calling, as Round Earth looks to build in a downtown Philadelphia area where small business owner Rob (Greg Kinnear) heads Super Fruity but hates being compared to Jamba Juice because those guys are "corporate juice pimps" and the "Exxon of frozen juice companies." Her attraction to Rob is linked to the development of his property and telling him she's got a surrogate mom carrying her child.

All in all, "Baby Mama" is hit-or-miss, causing the audiences to go through both the joyful bliss of great comic delivery to terrible labor pains of miscarriage of jokes. It's one of those movies where the funny stuff is all in the trailer.

Still, there are some gems of humor. Poehler is tailor-made to play white trash, since she does it so well on "SNL," especially here, doing what can only be described as her caricature of Britney Spears going through pregnancy. Martin's shtick grows tiresome but provides some outright silly dialogue ("I was swimming with the dolphins in Coast Rica this morning..."). Malco shines the brightest here, as a simple observer but also the wisest character, viewing the situations as a "been there, done that" man of experience and advice.

The problem here is the script: it's not very funny. It has it's moments, but not up to the caliber of Fey, both in terms of writing, timing and delivery. At 96 minutes, it seems longer. It's a bit too clich&#233d to say it felt as long as nine months, but you get what I mean. The romantic angle involving Kinnear does not seem authentic and is merely there for sugary reasons. Additionally, the film gets too bubbly-cuddly as time goes on, divulging into overly goodie-goodie territory.

While the laughs are not as gut-busting as a C-section, "Baby Mama" delivers its spawn too prematurely.