It’s funny that soon on the heels of Devin’s newly proclaimed love for Tina Fey’s 30 Rock (A love which I share in spades. The “Arsenio Billingham” joke made me laugh harder than anything in movies or TV last year.) comes news of a Fey project that just may test that devotion. Baby Mama, of which the title alone will justifiably produce kneejerk negative reactions, will star Fey and her fellow SNL alumnus Amy Poehler as a single career-minded executive and the surrogate the executive hires to have her child so as not to impact her career, respectively. What’s even more questionable is that Fey is not involved with the creative side of the film as that’ll be left to writer/director Michael McCullers, who co-wrote the last two Austin Powers flicks with Mike Myers. This would actually be his directing debut. The film was actually announced late last year, but now the roles have been solidified and production is on track for a late April start date.
I love Fey. I really do. And granted, I wasn’t sold on the premise of 30 Rock either, that is before I gave it a chance and it became my favorite comedy currently on air. But that show rocks because of the combo of great writing and a fantastic ensemble cast, neither of which were present in the Austin Powers sequels. While I didn’t hate them as some did, the funny in those flicks came from Myers’ delivery in the characters of Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard and Goldmember, not the well-written zingers. It’s fully possible this could fill out with some great co-stars as well, especially given how hot Fey’s show is right now. But given the building blocks we have thus far, and given the Fey, as an actress, is generally one of the blander parts of any given episode, I’m not feeling this. As for Poehler, I think she’s talented, but I just saw her fizzle out in the disappointingly routine Blades of Glory, so I know what she looks like in a generic comedy with little to no support from the script.
But who knows what’ll happen between now and the locked film? A title change, great cast, and a better-than-expected script could do wonders. I just don’t expect any of this to actually occur.