Baby Mama - 2008

Baby Mama

(2008)

PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, and a drug reference

My Rating: 2 stars

Tina Fey

Amy Poehler

Greg Kinnear

Dax Shepard

Romany Malco

Maura Tierney

Holland Taylor

Sigourney Weaver

This is one of those movies that I laughed over two or three times, finished the film and thought, “Was that worth my time?” The answer, I'm afraid, was no. There were too many negatives.

Kate is a very successful, childless, single, 37 year old business woman who suddenly realizes that she wants a baby. Everywhere she goes, she sees babies. And I mean everywhere! She looks around her conference table and all the fat, balding men and ugly women sitting at it turn into gurgling, grinning, adorable babies. (That was one of the scenes I thought was hilarious, in case you hadn't noticed.) She rides in the elevator and all the women in the elevator have babies. She walks down the street and there are strollers with dimpled, angelic babies in them no matter where she looks.

So she tries artificial insemination. Five times. Oh. Wait. I think that was six. Anyways, it doesn't seem to be working. She goes back to the Dr. He informs her that he doesn't like the shape of her uterus... in fact, he doesn't think she can get pregnant. “One chance in a million,” he says.

“Have you heard of surrogate parenting?” asks her sister. Kate says no way. That is not a route she would dream of taking. Ever.

The fee is $100,000. The woman/broker who runs the place is in her 40's and having babies the natural way. Kate makes an appointment to see several would be surrogate mothers and she finds... Angie.

What ensues is... interesting. Funny at times. The best part is when Angie is “beating up on her baby bump”. Hilarious.

What I liked:

1: How well filmed it is.

2: The actors are perfect for their parts.

3: Sweet romances.

4: When the humor was good, it was really good.

5: The lead actors (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) really work well together.

6: The jokes about the health food industry were the funniest. Oh my word.

7: How Kate and Angie both learned there is more to life than money.

What I didn't Like:

1: The crude language/jokes.

2: A lot of the characters were dressed seductively.

3: The scenes they cut out should not have been cut out. They left several strings untied by doing that.

4: The very little moral in this story.

It's a movie for entertainment. It's not one I would watch again but I'm not sorry I watched it. I would like to see those actors in a different type of film because they are excellent at their profession.

The Village -- 2004

The Village

(2004)

directed by

M. Night Shyamalan

PG: frightening scenes

My Rating: 5 stars

Joaquin Pheonix

Adrien Brody

Bryce Dallas Howard

William Hurt

Sigourney Weaver

Brendan Gleeson

The gist of the story is this: a village set in the 19th century fears an evil lurking in the forests around their small valley. Due to a certain set of circumstances, one of their number must venture out to the Towns to get medical supplies.

The story is told in such a way that it is a great mystery. I will not give it away and spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I must say that I was surprised several times. I did have inklings at one point but somehow, the director cleverly cleared them all away from my mind, then thoroughly surprised me with exactly what I had suspected earlier.

The first ten minutes of this film, I was rather disappointed because I found that most of the actors weren't saying their lines well. It sounded like they were reading them or repeating them from memory. Actually, what it really seemed like was that most of the actors hadn't 'become' their characters yet. But as the ten minute mark passed, so did my negative criticism. The actors and their characters made a complete merging and the movie became a work of genius on all counts.

That being said, I must digress for a moment: Adrien Brody and Joaquin Pheonix were excellence from start to finish. I never thought that Adrien would look so good insane but he's a genius at whatever role he plays, be it playwright, soldier or madman!

For those who love a good mystery, unique story and a lovely, sweet romance, this film is for you. The scariest thing about it? That the story might be true.

I'm now looking for M. Night Shyamalan's other films. :-)