Kinnear, Fey are worthwhile in the comedy ‘Baby Mama’

By Robert W. Butler

Most of the movie’s stars are wasted in clich roles.

Tina Fey is a limited actress who probably will never escape her inner geek — at least we hope she won’t.

There’s something about her combination of smarts, goofiness and integrity that keeps us coming back long after Hollywood’s latest bimbos have worn out their welcome.

Fey is the main reason to see “Baby Mama,” a film from the “Saturday Night Live” crowd that pairs her with Amy Poehler for a comedy about motherhood.

Fey plays Kate, a successful and single career woman who has risen to the vice presidency of a national chain of natural food groceries. But at 37, Kate hears her biological clock ticking.

When her efforts to conceive meet with failure (“I don’t like the look of your uterus,” her OB/GYN observes unhelpfully), Kate decides to take extraordinary steps. Through the very expensive services of a surrogate facilitator (Sigourney Weaver) she hooks up with Angie. One look tells us that Angie (Poehler) is a gum-snapping citizen of white-trash nation — but she’s willing to rent out her womb for a chunk of cash.

Kate and Angie become reluctant roommates when the latter breaks up with her oafish boyfriend (Dax Shepard) and Kate becomes concerned for the health of the unborn baby.

No crystal ball is required to predict that the slobbovian Angie and the anal-retentive Kate will get on each other’s nerves (uh, yes, we’ve seen “The Odd Couple”). Nevertheless they will bond, particularly after good-time-gal Angie coaxes the uptight Kate out for a night on the town.

Making his directing debut, writer Michael McCullers (his writing credits include several seasons of “SNL” and the “Austin Powers” movies) hasn’t so much written a story as a series of comedy sketches. Occasionally he comes up with a juicy line (as when Angie, hooked up to an IV, announces: “This stuff is great. What’s the street name?”). But not often enough.

After a while the film settles into a familiar dynamic: Poehler goes over the top in search of laughs, reducing the low-keyed Fey to the role of straight (wo)man.

Greg Kinnear provides the love interest as an independent merchant whose store is being displaced by Kate’s latest health foods megamarket. This actor is so good at creating an unaffected, likable and believable character that his romance with Fey’s Kate provides the only genuine emotion in the movie.