Baby Formula

Fey's Kate, for all her trendy compulsiveness, is surprisingly likable, never succumbing to the tired stereotype of the sterile yuppie who has sacrificed her sexuality and her soul for success. Poehler's role gets the bigger laughs: she's a gifted rubber-faced comedienne, particularly winning when, caught red-handed in one gaucherie after another—like sticking her gum under the coffee table—she outright denies what she's done.

When the central odd-couple joke threatens to get tired—and the inspiration does flag—"Baby Mama" is rescued by two scene-stealing veterans: Sigourney Weaver as the smug, patrician owner of the surrogate company, and a priceless, ponytailed Steve Martin as the self-infatuated New Age owner of Round Earth. These two aren't onscreen a lot, but the movie seems most fully alive when they are. And Greg Kinnear as a former corporate lawyer who now runs a juice bar—you knew there had to be a romantic interest for Kate before the fade out, didn't you?—gets the maximum out of a fairly thankless male ingénue role.

Aren't we always told that Hollywood is averse to making movies about women over 25? If nothing else, "Baby Mama" and "Then She Found Me" put that truism to rest. For one weekend out of the year, anyway, chick flicks rule.

© 2008