Baby Mama (2008)

Directed by: Michael McCullers | 99 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Romany Malco, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin, Maura Tierney, Stephen Mailer, Holland Taylor, James Rebhorn, Denis O’Hare, Kevin Collins, Will Forte, Fred Arnissen, John Hodgman, Siobhan Fallon, Tom McCarthy, Jason Mantzoukas, Dave Finkel, Brian Stack, Felicity Stiverson, Anne L. Nathan, Jay Phillips, Kathy Searle, Almeria Campbell, Alice Kremelberg, Catherine Rose, Ian Colletti

You know that feeling when, when you really want something, you suddenly find it everywhere? That, if you have just been dumped, you suddenly see couples in love walking everywhere. Or that, when you want to get pregnant, you suddenly see babies everywhere? The latter is also the case with Kate. The conference room full of businessmen suddenly turns into a room full of babies and when she wants to go to yoga class, there suddenly appears to be a special mother and baby class. The film has barely started when the tone has already been set.

Kate, 37, is a successful businesswoman who has just been named vice president of a natural products company. She desperately wants a baby, but due to the lack of a steady partner and a fertility problem, the only option for her is to use a surrogate mother. That becomes the blond, naive Angie, who is really only after the money. When Angie is also forced to live with Kate, the differences between the two women cause some hilarity. Yet a bond develops between the two. Is this bond strong enough when it turns out that something doesn’t quite go as planned?

The intro of the film will evoke tenderness, and above all recognition, among baby lovers and/or women with maternal feelings. The despair of a 37-year-old single woman who desperately wants a child but hears the clock ticking will be understood by many women. Funnily enough, there aren’t many romantic comedies that focus on the theme of babies or surrogacy. It turns out to be a hit. A simple, yet innovative story. Throw in some humor, and a touch of romance and your target audience (women…) will melt for the film. The chemistry between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the two lead actresses, is perfect. You see the genuine irritations between the two, but in the meantime you also see a friendship develop and you see them grow towards each other. The men in this film clearly have a supporting role, even the romance theme has a supporting role, which is strangely enough, precisely the success formula of this film.

Men will undoubtedly sigh and groan just by reading this film. Although, after seeing the film, they will secretly have to admit that they also laughed at some scenes, such as when Angie is peeing in the sink because she can’t get the child lock off the toilet. The film is clearly aimed at women, there is plenty to laugh, swoon and enjoy in ‘Baby Mama’. It’s a shame that director Michael McCullers finally sticks a Hollywood Happy End. Of course this happy girl film has to end well, that’s what a romantic comedy is for, but this ending is very sweet and ‘they live happily ever after’. That would have been a little less. Nevertheless, ‘Baby Mama’ has become a successful directorial debut for McCullers.