Tina Fey wants to be a baby mama. She really, really wants to be a baby mama.

Or at least her character, Kate Holbrook, wants to be one in the just-released-on-DVD comedy, "Baby Mama." Only problem is, genetics are not on her side in the motherhood department. Sticky notes in her bathroom reminding her to be "Be fertile!"

Desperate to have a child, the 37-year-old successful businesswoman seeks assistance in the process from a surrogacy center so she can hire someone else to be her baby mama. For those unfamiliar with the grammatically incorrect term, "baby mama" is basically a "baby's mother," which is far too proper sounding to be the name of a juvenile comedy starring Saturday Night Live buddies Fey and Amy Poehler (playing Angie, the surrogate baby mama).

"Angie, I'm gonna put my baby in you," Kate tells the redneckish blonde, a dimwitted wild child who is pretty much the total opposite of the person you would select to carry your unborn baby.

Steve Martin and Dax Shepard are along for the fertility ride, starring respectively as Kate's zenmaster boss, Barry, and Angie's loser (has Dax ever played a winner?) common-law husband, Carl.

When Angie is forced to move in with Kate, it doesn't take long for the major baby mama drama to kick in.

The jokes here are mostly of the cheap sight gag variety, such as Poehler peeing into a sink when she can't figure out how to unlock the child safety feature of the toilet.

It's fairly typical stuff for a fairly typical comedy, which is fine if your expectations are not set too high. Really, I'd question anyone having all that high of expectations for any film giving a prominent role to Shepard, most known for his antics on MTV's "Punk'd" and sophomoric comedies like "Employee of the Month."

Still, there's a feeling throughout "Baby Mama" that Fey should be funnier than she is here, which isn't very. For a woman featured alongside Chris Rock and David Letterman on the latest Rolling Stone with the words "What's so funny? The New Golden Age of Comedy."

To answer the magazine's question: It's not Fey. At least not in this movie. Poehler is funnier, although that's not saying a whole lot. For the most part, the jokes come off as blandly predictable, with very few sticking to the funny bone.

There are a few good jokes and one-liners here, but they're way too fleeting and sporadic to carry the film for a 90-minute feature.

I suppose there's an audience for "Baby Mama" — perhaps groups of women and their slightly off-kilter girlfriends sharing laughs over a bottle or two of a nice red.

Personally, I find being a baby daddy in real life to be much more entertaining.

Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times.