Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens. We’re a few days late with this latest roundup—our apologies!

It’s not a banner week for new releases. The best of the bunch is the new Saturday Night Live alum flick Baby Mama, in which Tina Fey stars as a single businesswoman who hires a surrogate (played by Amy Poehler) to carry her child. It’s a PG-13 SNL-type effort in which “the humor never comes across as mean-spirited,” says Michael Brunk. “While it has its rude, crude moments, I never felt it was gratuitous or thrown in for shock effect. Not all of the jokes work, but in general it’s consistently witty and funny.”

Also clocking in at PG-13, but for much milder reasons, is the documentary The First Saturday in May, which follows trainers as the prepare for the Kentucky Derby. Says Jennie Sphor, “The blood, sweat, and tears of their struggle is that of the classic Horatio Alger novel, Struggling Upwards. But ultimately, the film suffers something of an identity problem. It cannot seem to decide if it is a film about the horses or the people behind the horses.”

Jennie was also not overly displeased with The Life Before Her Eyes, a drama about the consequences of a Columbine-like school shooting. R-rated for the naturally disturbing violence, the film nonetheless “brings up multiple questions and concepts that there is value in pursuing, and it does a worthy job of exploring them,” she says.

Mike Brunk and Kathy Bledsoe, meanwhile, have nothing good to say about the R-rated Deception and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. The former suffers from gratuitous near-porn, and the latter from gratuitous genitalia and urination.

By: Andy. This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Film, Film roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.