My Baby's Daddy is a semi-comic tale of three friends who all get their girlfriends pregnant at the same time and are suddenly thrown into the job of father. This film stars comedian Eddie Griffin (Coneheads, John Q, Undercover Brother), Anthony Anderson (Big Mommas House, Me, Myself & Irene, Barbershop) and Michael Imperioli (Goodfellas, Bad Boys, Summer of Sam). This obvious rendition of Three Men and a Baby has the potential to be a funny and touching film, but falls short in several categories. The film opens with a really fun and fresh animation sequence, telling the story of the boys growing up together, getting in trouble and establishing their characters. Griffin plays Lonnie, the nerd of the group, who is hopelessly in love with a slut who uses him for his money. Anderson plays G, a lighthearted guy who has dreams to be the next Rocky. Imperioli is Dominic, a self proclaimed player who is trying to produce Hip Hop records. Anderson is by far the most interesting of the three friends, but still comes short. The biggest problem with the film is that the comedy and the spirit of the story are not consistent. There are some genuinely funny and touching moments that lead the audience to think there might be some substance to the film- as soon as you think that, the moment is ruined by a fart joke or some over the top, quasi-comedic attempt. Some times it feels like a touching light comedy only to have the humor whip into a crude, farcical hodge-podge. Griffin does his typical thing, swapping his look around as he transforms from a goggle-glasses wearing nerd, to an afro sporting, FUBU clad player. Anderson has some interesting banter between himself and his Chinese girlfriend's father. Whereas this might be an interesting dynamic to have, the writers messed it up with cheap shots to Asian names by coming up with sarcastic, 80's-esque names for her family; Fung Yu, Bling Bling, and others just as dismal. Imperioli is a throw-away character who really accomplishes nothing in the film. He's used to get to jokes about poser white rappers and an excuse to get two girls to kiss. Overall there are a few chuckles mixed in there, but what could have been a fun and touching film about three guys growing into fatherhood, turned into a mix of crude jokes and gags loosely linked by a story about babies. Time to grow up, boys. This is a very generous 4/10 star feature.
Review of My Baby's Daddy
