Baby Mama (released in 2008) - a comedy movie starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, and Dax Shepard

Surrogacy is a hot topic for a serious drawn out docudrama, but Baby Mama turns all that notions upside down. All the complications of surrogacy is not fully presented, but it is a romantic comedy which pulls out to your heart strings. In a male dominated story lines of Hollywood this movie gives the bonding between two women belonging to different worlds the premium space. Directed by Micheal McCullers, this 2008 movie stars Tina fey. Amanda Poehler, Greg Kinnear and Steve Martin.
Kate Holbrook is a Wharton Grad and a hard nosed career women. In her late thirties she feels time slipping from her hands and wants to satisfy the urges of motherhood. But to her horror she comes to know that her uterus is T-shaped which makes her chances of pregnancy very remote. Kate approaches this problem in a true business sense and zeroes on the technique of surrogacy. She chooses a spoilt Angie to carry her baby to term. Angie is a con on her own right with her head in the air and lands up at Kate's door step with no place to live in. She plans to make a run with the compensation money and knows that the in-vitro fertilization has not succeeded.
A a driven Kate approaches impending motherhood in her own methodical way, she learns the hard knocks early by tending to a childish Angie. Slowly a bond develops between the two women and Angie begins to regret the lie she is forced to live. But she keeps putting off the confession. But a routine ultra sound confirms her pregnancy, and to her shock Angie realizes the baby to be her own with her husband Carl.



Angie is forced to confess the lie at Kate's baby shower. A horrified Kate insists that the baby could be hers as the pregnancy test could be done only after two weeks. A distance develops between the two women and the law steps in for the custody battle.
At the hearing Angie makes an heart felt apology and the DNA tests confirms that the baby is hers. A crest fallen Kate storms out to the courtroom and is confronted by Angie. Angie's water breaks and Kate is forced to rush her to the hospital and assist in the delivery. Kate faints during the delivery and a routine examination confirms her pregnancy. An ecstatic Kate and her boyfriend Rob make preparation for their baby to come home. Angie gives birth to a daughter whom she names after Gwen Stefani and she tries to involve her common-law husband in the child rearing process.
As a year passes a great bond develops between the two women. They become like sisters and bring up their children together. Kate and Rob get married and Carl tries to get involved with his daughter and all ends well. This film might be a very simplistic take on surrogacy but one has to keep in mind that this is a romantic comedy meant to entertain. Do not rush in looking for answer's to the strong emotional problems. This movie was like by critics and the audience and was one of the top grosser of 2008. A fast paced script and some splendid acting by the leading ladies like Tina Fey and Amanda Poehler makes this movie a good watch.

Sabrina (released in 1995) - a romantic comedy starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear

A romantic comedy starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear, Sabrina was released in 1995 and was adapted from a play titled Sabrina fair. It features the eternal love triangle where the tall dark brooding hero falls in love with the petite beautiful heroine who revamps herself completely. The story starts with Sabrina who is a chauffeur's daughter and is employed by the super rich Larrabee's. Sabrina is totally besotted by David Larrabee who is a perennial playboy falling in and out of love. He does not even know that Sabrina exist and has a bevy of beauties vying for his attention. An antithesis of Davis is Linus Larrabee who is a workaholic immersing himself in the wellbeing of his business. Linus only understands the language of money and is more interested in augmenting his bank balance than investing in relationships. Lording over them is the benign matriarch Maude Larrabee who has a heart of gold.
Sabrina leaves her invisible existence in the chauffeurs cottage for an internship with the Vogue in Paris. She returns a successful and well groomed woman who turns many heads. David is in the mean time engaged to Elizabeth Tyson, a heiress to a big electronic store. Linus has big designs of merger between the Tyson group and the Larrabee's and has billions of dollars riding on this business deal. He is the architect of this engagement and is very keen on this union for the sake of his bank balance.



But David is suitably attracted to Sabrina who catches his eye on arrival. Linus is perturbed by this new turn of events and tries to keep David fixed on the engagement track. As he realizes that David may fall for Sabrina, Linus pretends to be in love with her. He directs her affections and Sabrina falls in love with him. But Linus also has fallen for her and he confesses the truth. A disenchanted Sabrina leaves for Paris plunging Linus into depression. David has suitably recovered from Sabrina and falls for Elizabeth Tyson again. He and Maude persuades Linus to leave for Paris to court Sabrina. David sheds his playboy image and steps in to Linus's shoes to run the company with the help of his mother Maude.
So all is well that ends well for Linus and Sabrina who live happily ever after and everybody is happy. This movie is a remake of the 1954 movie staring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden. The inevitable comparison with the earlier classic resulted in poor box office returns for this movie. But it was well received by the critics and has been nominated for the academy awards. It received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for its original musical score, Moonlight. Harrison Ford also was nominated for the Golden Globe for the best actor.
I feel it is a well crafted film with great performances. If you have feeling low and need some candy floss in your life, this is the movie for you.