Baby Mama

Baby Mama is rated PG-13: crude and sexual humor, language and a drug reference

My husband likes Cat Stevens' melodies. Me? Not so much. Yet our different musical taste is hardly a deal-breaker in our marriage. However, an opposing opinion on a single song is one of the silly factors that interfere with a relationship in this story. There are plenty of other ill-conceived ideas about real life as well. Among them is the film's casual attitude toward sexual relations, pregnancy and childrearing.

At 37, Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) appears to have everything the successful, modern businesswoman could want. She's climbing the corporate ladder, owns a well-furnished apartment in a trendy neighborhood and has her finances in order. But what the newly appointed VP of marketing really wants is a baby.

All her life, she's pursued promotions instead of a pregnancy. Now with the biological clock starting to wind down, the single career woman is getting desperate. After adoption options fail and fertility issues arise, Kate visits Chaffee Bicknell's (Sigourney Weaver) reproduction clinic in hopes of hiring a surrogate mother to bear her baby.

What she doesn't expect is Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler), a gum chewing, junk food junkie who lives with her common law partner Carl (Dax Shepard) in a lower end neighborhood. After a brief and awkward one time meeting, the two women agree to a strictly cash-for-incubation business partnership. Unfortunately Kate doesn't do the same kind of market research on her child's carrier as she does for her boss's (Steve Martin) next store location. Shortly after implantation, the venture becomes much more personal. When Angie and Carl have a spat, the pregnant, hormonal woman shows up on Kate's doorstep for a tense and trying nine-month stay.

Kate's maternal desire for a baby is understandable. Yet, except for Kate's sister (Maura Tierney) and her barely noticed spouse, almost everyone in this film is making babies without the benefit of commitment. Even Oscar (Romany Malco), Kate's apartment doorman, has children from at least two baby mamas that he's had "relations" with but not relationships. In addition, the serious responsibility of parenting becomes little more than a laughing matter when the other potential parents portrayed include an anorexic homosexual who's afraid his baby will take after his chubby partner, a new-age dad who plans to eat the placenta as a way to bond with his child and a couple who worries their Wicca-practicing surrogate has them under a spell.

Making fun of foreign adoptions by celebrities, later life pregnancies, and hypersensitive safety concerns, Baby Mama is plagued with crude, sexual humor, profanities and alcohol use during pregnancy. Focusing on the business of making babies, the film neglects to address the work of parenting or the importance of creating a family.

Studio: 2008 Universal Studios.

Anyone with children knows that pregnancy, as difficult as it can be, is often the easiest part of parenting. Yet the focus in this film is all about the act of getting pregnant. Sexual relations, on first dates and in casual relationships, are portrayed and discussed without a thought for the children or responsibility for them that may result. Rebound sex is also portrayed as a way to get even with an ex-girlfriend. Crude terms for anatomy and other sexual jokes are included in the dialogue along with bathroom humor, numerous profanities and one modified use of a strong sexual expletive. Women, wearing provocative clothing, get drunk at a nightclub—one of these women is pregnant. The discussion of cigarette use and a drug reference are included as well.

How might Kate’s heavy career commitments impact her role as a mother? What are the difficulties of balancing work and home responsibilities? Are the challenges of parenting and single parenting addressed in this script?

What ethical issues might arise from some of the procedures used in this film? Does a sperm donor have any responsibility to the children he fathers? Should a child be able to contact a sperm donor? What difficulties might arise from surrogacy? What happens if a child is born with birth defects? What would motivate a woman to be a surrogate? Do you agree or disagree with the practice? Why?

Plans for an empty nest are put on hold when a man discovers both his wife and married daughter are expecting babies in Father of the Bride II. Just as juice shop owner Rob (Greg Kinnear) faces competition from a conglomerate in Baby Mama, another small business owner deals with big business moving into her neighborhood in You’ve Got Mail. Kinnear stars in that film as well.

DVD Release Date: September 9, 2008

Baby Mama releases to DVD with a whole diaper bag full of bonus materials. These include an audio commentary with director Michael McCullers, producer Lorne Michaels and cast members Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, an alternate ending and deleted scenes. Audio tracks are recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Baby Mama also releases on Blu-Ray with all of the above listed extras, plus the featurette From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama. Audio tracks are recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1.