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Article: 88 Minutes / Baby Mama
- Article from:
- Pittsburgh City Paper
- Article date:
- April 23, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Steel City Media Apr 23-Apr 30, 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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88 Minutes / Baby Mama
The Clock Is Ticking
WHAT DO A SERIAL-KILLER thriller and a surrogate-pregnancy comedy have in common? The unforgiving advance of time, leading to great panic and momentous life-or-death decisions.
In 88 Minutes, a man gets word that he's about to die in - you guessed it - 88 minutes; he freaks out and decides kill the murderer first. In Baby Mama, meanwhile, it's the countdown of a biological dock that leads a career-oriented, edging-40 singleton to splash out a six-figure sum to hire a dubious stranger to grow her kid.
Here's another commonality: Both films are funny but only one is meant to be.
88 Minutes opens grimly enough, with some torture porn. It's 1997, and ...