Naturally, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are very funny together; their history making run on as Weekend Update anchors on Saturday Night Live was proof of that. The idea of getting these two together in one movie, obviously, was very appealing, indeed. The shame of it is that the tremendous comedic talents of these two women are wasted in Baby Mama, a painfully sitcomy movie that lacks subtly, wit and originality. The thing would be a complete wash if it weren’t for the comedic timing and chemistry of Poehler and Fey.

Now these types of movies are split into one of two categories; either they’re about how hard it is to be parent or about how hard it is to become a parent. Baby Mama is obviously the latter as Fey plays Kate, a health food store executive that’s trying desperately to become a Mom. When all other options fail, she turns to surrogacy to carry her baby and ends up with the uber-white trash Angie (Poehler). Naturally, hilarity ensues as the mismatched Kate and Angie try to navigate co-habitation and the murky waters of the genetic mom/surrogate relationship and maybe a few secrets.

It’s pretty standard stuff actually and if anything about it is funny, it seems that it’s purely by accident; the experience is one canned laughter soundtrack away from being a sitcom. The characters you get are like they’re from some kind of random comedy character generator: there’s the odd couple, the ironic black door man, the out-of-touch boss, the romantic interest, the red neck husband, the overbearing mother and the supportive, take-no-prisoners sister. The set-ups are also very cookie-cutter: Angie’s too dumb to navigate baby-proofing, Kate’s saddled with the task of having to read her spacey boss’ mind, Angie’s husband (played Idiocracy-light by Dax Shepard) becomes a nuisance to Angie’s sweet deal and the door man seems to have no other job then to hang around Kate and make snide remarks.

It’s fitting then that those cast as supporting players easily slip into the thankless role of bringing these characters to life. Shepard can play belligerent in his sleep and his unintelligent screaming and hollering certainly pushed me into nap mode. Greg Kinnear plays the good guy that gets Kate’s attention, a smoothie shop owner whom Kate has no problem finding incompatibility with. (He’s doesn’t like “Lady in Red” and she does. Horror!) Aside from Fey and Poehler, only Steve Martin as Kate’s New Agey, pony-tailed boss seems to be generating any kind of heat. All the comedy credit Martin’s spent making the Pink Panthers and the Cheaper by the Dozens is semi-redeemed because of his hilariously, on-the-nose performance.

For centricity’s sake though, you can’t have a better female comedy duo than Fey and Poehler; they just now need better material. Writer and director Michael McCullers is an SNL vet (pre-Fey and Poehler) and the weak and exhausted comedy material of Baby Mama shows that he has trouble, as a writer, thinking beyond stereotypes. Next time you get these comediennes into a room Hollywood, it had better be around a script they have written themselves.