Baby Mama (film)

Baby Mama
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael McCullers
Produced by Lorne Michaels
John Goldwyn
Written by Michael McCullers
Starring Tina Fey
Amy Poehler
Greg Kinnear
Dax Shepard
Romany Malco
Maura Tierney
Holland Taylor
Sigourney Weaver
Kathy Searle
Music by Jeff Richmond
Cinematography Daryn Okada
Edited by Bruce Green
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Studios
Release date
  • April 25, 2008 (2008-04-25)
Running time
 99 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[1]
Box office $64.2 million[1]

Baby Mama is a 2008 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Michael McCullers in his directorial debut and starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, and Sigourney Weaver.

Plot

Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) is a successful single businesswoman who has always put her career before her personal life. Now in her late thirties, she finally decides to have her own child, but her plans are dampened when she discovers she has a minuscule chance of becoming pregnant because her uterus is T-shaped. Also denied the chance to adopt, Kate hires an immature, obnoxious, South Philadelphia woman named Angie Ostrowski (Amy Poehler) to become her surrogate mother.

When Angie becomes pregnant, Kate prepares for motherhood in her own typically driven fashion—until her surrogate shows up at her door with no place to live. Their conflicting personalities put them at odds as Kate learns first-hand about balancing motherhood and career and also dates the owner of a local blended-juice cafe, Rob Ackerman (Greg Kinnear).

Unknown to Kate, the in-vitro fertilization procedure Angie had did not succeed and she is feigning the pregnancy, hoping to ultimately run off with her payment. Eventually she starts to regret lying about not being pregnant, but she continually puts off confessing. When she gets an ultrasound, she discovers she is pregnant for real. Realizing the baby is her own—with her common-law husband Carl (Dax Shepard), from whom she is separated—Angie is forced to confess at Kate's baby shower. When Kate explains to Angie that the pregnancy test was supposed to be taken two weeks after the procedure, and that the baby could still belong to her, a wedge is driven between the two women.

A court hearing determines that the baby is Angie's, and Angie makes an impassioned apology to Kate. As the women meet face-to-face after the proceedings, Angie's water breaks and Kate rushes her to the hospital, then passes out during the birth. As she wakes up, the doctor supervising Angie's pregnancy tells Kate that she's two months pregnant (the result of her relationship with her new boyfriend). After receiving the news, she visits Angie, who is holding her new baby daughter Stef, named for Gwen Stefani. Kate forgives Angie and the two become best friends, ultimately changing each other for the better.

Angie and Kate raise their children and are in a sister-like relationship one year later at Stef's first-birthday party. It is revealed that Kate and Rob are very proud parents of a baby daughter and are engaged. Although he does not reunite with Angie, Carl stays close to his daughter and takes parenting classes. The final scene shows Angie and Kate sitting in front of a television set with their children, watching Tom and Jerry cartoons, a reference to an earlier line in the film.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception

Fey and Poehler at the premiere

As of December 2015, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 64% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 153 reviews, with the consensus that the film is "a lightweight, predictable comedy that ekes by on the strength of its performers."[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews.[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[4]

In a review for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, reproductive lawyer Melissa Brisman comments that this movie should be viewed as entertainment rather than as portraying surrogacy in a factual manner.[5]

Box office

In its opening weekend, Baby Mama grossed $17,407,110 in 2,543 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office and averaging $6,845 per theater.[6]

Baby Mama grossed a total of $64,163,648,[1] with a production budget of $30 million.

Home media

Baby Mama was released on September 9, 2008 on both DVD and Blu-ray. Extras included commentary with writer/director Michael McCullers and cast members Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama featurette, an alternate ending, deleted scenes, and Saturday Night Live: Legacy of Laughter.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Baby Mama (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  2. ↑ "Baby Mama Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  3. ↑ "Baby Mama (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  4. ↑ "CinemaScore". CinemaScore.
  5. ↑ "Gestational Surrogacy: Dispelling the Myths By Melissa Brisman, Esq" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  6. ↑ "Baby Mama (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
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