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April 25, 2008

Here comes 'Baby Mama'

Baby Mama

Baby Mama, the new film about a single woman who hires a surrogate mother that stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, opens today. Our critic Michael Sragow gives it a C. Here's his review, along with a trailer of the movie, if you haven't seen that yet.

Even before Sragow weighed in, I wasn't very hopeful for this movie, even though both Fey and Poehler can be wickedly funny. Fey plays Kate, a single, "Type A-plus" (according to Sragow) businesswoman who commissions a baby from the character played by Poehler, who is less moneyed and more fertile.

I've had enough friends suffer through fertility problems that I know there's really nothing funny about it, so that colors my view. What do you think about making fun of this subject?

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 12:31 PM | | Comments (3)
Categories: Movies
        

Comments

I haven't seen the movie, obviously, but have no plans to see it. From the trailers, I find it offensive that the movie portrays the stereotype of the infertile mother as educated and successful and the surrogate as white trash. I get that it's supposed to be funny, but as you mentioned, I've had enough friends suffer from infertility to know that it really isn't funny.

What would have been very clever-- and my favorite, ironic--would have been to devise a plot where the established, erudite and wealthy career woman (perhaps recently demoted or otherwise strapped to maintain that insane mortgage for one?) decides to be the surrogate for the "less moneyed" woman. Fertility issues cut across every economic demographic.
Could have raised some interesting possibilites for exploring and turning the sterotype on its ear. If anyone could make me think while I struggle to maintain control of my post-baby bladder, it's Tina Fey.

I have to disagree on one small point -- there are some things about infertility (or treatment thereof) that can be funny. If my husband and I hadn't found things to laugh at during our two-year struggle to get pregnant, I think we would have lost our minds entirely. But I don't see any indication that any of those things are in this movie, which seems to treat the issue with broad strokes and stereotypes instead of any kind of subtlety or character development. (Full disclosure: I haven't seen the movie, either, nor do I intend to.)

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About Kate Shatzkin
Kate Shatzkin is the parenting and families content editor at The Baltimore Sun and, before that, was its family beat reporter. But her most challenging and rewarding job is being mother to Leah, 8, and Sam, 6.

In her 14 years at The Baltimore Sun, Kate also has covered nonprofit organizations, prisons and courts, and has written several investigative series. She was previously a Knight journalism fellow at Yale Law School and a reporter at the Seattle Times and at the Patriot-Ledger of Quincy, Mass. She lives in Baltimore with her family.

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