The ample comic talents of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler go to waste here, thanks to a predictable script that takes a disastrous wrong turn midway through.
Fey stars as Kate, a high-powered corporate executive who finds herself suddenly longing for a child. When her gynecologist tells her she'll be unable to conceive, she turns to an agency that matches mothers and surrogates. She's paired with Angie (Poehler), a crude, uneducated (though far from stupid) woman who has turned to surrogacy for the money.
The first half of the movie is the best part, as Kate and Angie struggle to cooperate, and find that they have more in common than it seemed. Had the movie stayed on that track, turning into a sort of female Odd Couple, it still wouldn't have been a great movie, but it would have been a better one. Unfortunately, there is a plot twist that turns the two into adversaries. Their chemistry is the best thing about the movie, so keeping them separate for a long stretch isn't a good idea.
They're surrounded by a solid supporting cast. Sigourney Weaver gives us yet another variation on her corporate bitch persona as the owner of the surrogate placement agency; Steve Martin gets some great laughs as Kate's new-age boss; Greg Kinnear plays yet another blandly pleasant love interest without becoming too bland himself.
And at the heart of the movie, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are so good together that I could almost (but not quite) recommend the movie just for the two of them. Here's hoping they get the chance to work together again in better material.
No comments:
Post a Comment