As expected, Baby Mama took the top spot this week. It was not a strong victory, but it led a weekend that was a definite step up from the equivalent weekend last year (when Disturbia three-peated with a tally of just over $9 million). Unfortunately Baby Mama was not quite the comedic gem that everyone surely had hoped for, but I still found it to be a fun flick. What the movie needed was another re-write or two to inject a little more heart and insight into the proceedings. Still, I do not feel bad for seeing it, it had a few fun moments and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler had excellent chemistry.
Hot on the heels of Baby Mama is the stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, the comedy with the topical title. I say that because the whole escape is a very small part of the film, yet using it makes it seem more poignant. There is nothing quite like injecting politics into a pot-filled flick. As it happens, this turned out to be the best wide release of the weekend. You are welcome to disagree, but I found it to be quite funny. It certainly was stupid, but it offered plenty of laughs.
The one other new film in wide release is the lackluster erotic thriller Deception. It barely scratched out a tenth place finish and will surely fade away in short order. It is a film that sadly had half of an interesting premise and blew it all with a secondary plot that took over in the second half.
As for the returning films, the box office was rather flat, with none suffering any extraordinary drops. Nim's Island had the strongest hold, only dropping 20% from last week. The one that makes me happy is Forgetting Sarah Marshall, dropping just 37% and putting up a strong fight for third place.
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