They've been "Tina and Amy" for over 30 years. Best friends and one of the most loved comedy partnerships on the big and small screen alike, it feels like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have been around forever, although we’ve only been aware of them for about half of their friendship. And Netflix in the US has just got one of their first films.
Originally released in 2008, Baby Mama was only the second time the pair had appeared on the big screen together, and their first appearance can hardly be called a double act. In Mean Girls (2004), Poehler was the "cool mom", with only a smidge more than two minutes on screen for the entire film — no time, then, for any scenes with Fey as maths teacher Ms Norbury.
That all changed in Baby Mama, where we had our first sight of their sparkling cinematic chemistry, especially when their characters are diametrically opposed.
And they couldn't be more different in this energetic comedy from director Michael McCullers. Successful and single businesswoman Kate (Fey) has always put her career in front of a personal life but in her late 30s, she decides it’s time to have a baby. Discovering that her chances of becoming pregnant are extremely low, she hires a surrogate, working girl Angie (Poehler).
She's not the most obvious of choices, but she soon becomes pregnant and Kate throws herself into preparation mode, immersing herself in childcare books, babyproofing her apartment and pinpointing the best pre-schools.
All her planning is thrown out of the window when Angie turns up on her doorstep with nowhere to live. Cue the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, with Kate trying to turn her surrogate into the perfect expectant mother in a non-stop — and, inevitably, wonderfully funny — battle of wills. It’s one that also helps them discover there are actually two kinds of families: the one you’re born into and the one you choose.
A delightfully daffy tone runs throughout the film, which was also written by McCullers. Given that he worked alongside Mike Myers on the scripts for both Austin Powers sequels, it’s not hard to see where that comes from and it makes for a fun chick-flick, as they were known at the time. While Fey and Poehler bring all their usual wit and energy to the party, they’re up against some formidable opposition from a top notch supporting cast. Steve Martin, no less, is a scene stealer as Kate’s boss, a grade one creep with a pony-tail, while Sigourney Weaver is brilliantly insensitive as the head of the surrogacy agency.
She’s in her late 50s but has no problem becoming pregnant naturally – and does so frequently – as well as tactlessly making sure all the childless couples on her books are fully aware of how easy it really is.
Greg Kinnear and Will Forte add to the film’s comedy credentials, as does SNL’s Lorne Michaels as producer, and while the script relies on the characters more than free-flowing gags to provide the laughs, it’s eminently likable and well structured.
Better still, it gives the cast free rein to let their sizeable comedy talents off the leash. Fey and Poehler returned to movies in 2013, albeit in cameos as news reporters in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, but they also hosted the Golden Globes from that year to 2015 and returned to front the show again in 2021.
More comedies – Sisters (2015) and Wine Country (2019) – followed, but at the same time they were working on their own TV projects, with Poehler’s performance as Parks And Rec’s Lesley Knope earning her a Golden Globe and Fey bagging Primetime Emmys for her acting and writing on 30 Rock.
Taking time away from working with each other keeps the partnership fresh and also means that news of their appearance as a double act sends expectations rocketing, with big laughs, sharp humour and a decidedly feminist attitude all on the agenda.
They’re a wonderful double act, but they’re equally great as individual performers – a combination that sets them apart and is the key to their success.
Baby Mama is now on Netflix in the US and Prime Video in the UK.
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