Baby Mama - 2 Tubs

Baby Mama is a hard title to say. People ask for Baby's Mama, My Baby's Mama, Mama Baby, etc. Why they chose to go with Ebonics to choose a title when there's only one black actor in the movie is beyond me. Surprisingly, this is a pretty good movie. My daughter and I laughed our butts off on Friday night; then on Saturday when I had to clean the theater I was pleasantly surprised that only a handful of people had left their trash in their seats. This is even more surprising because the movie has attracted all sorts of people: white, black, young, old, women, men, singles & couples. It's not an Oscar's qualifier (not that the stuff that does get nominated are deserving) but it's entertaining; and that's what going to a movie is all about. My favorite line was from the biological mom on her way to the delivery room responding to a stupid question about how she was doing; her response: "It feels like I'm shitting knives!". I think that sums it up pretty descriptively for most mothers.

What does this movie say about our culture today? Well, it tackles surrogate parenting and designer babies. Should couples, or single women for that matter, be able to choose donor traits to custom design their babies? This is a big deal for those in the gay community and infertile couples who would like to raise their own children. One California surrogacy and egg donation center has helped over 400 couples and individuals since 2003 realize their dream of becoming a parent. There are 55 babies due some time this year from this one clinic alone.

It's a profitable business too. The agency may require a retainer from $9-12K, plus $25K compensation for the surrogage mom, plus $5K for pharmacy, plus c-section and delivery costs, $250 per week for bed rest, $250 per week for a low income surrogate mom (I don't understand this one when you're giving them $25,000 to carry your baby. The fees go on and on. In Baby Mama, the agency fees were $100K; and as the mother-to-be pointed out, "It costs more to have someone born than it does to have them killed!" It takes longer too.

My last wife and I did pretty good turning out my youngest daughter. Not only does she have our DNA, or rather in spite of having our DNA, she's both beautiful and intelligent. It only cost us $5,000 and the insurance paid half of that. Of course, I've been pretty fertile myself, sireing five children. For those who can't have children biologically and who don't want to consider adopting some one else's children, designer babies might be the way to go. On the other hand it sounds a little like what Hitler tried to do when he wanted to create the ultimate race. Hollywood, as usual, provides a shallow Utopian viewpoint, but the full implications might not be realized in our lifetimes....now if we could extract the gene that causes slovenliness and irresponsibility, we might end up with a better world.