At first, “The Babymakers” seems like a strange offering from the Broken Lizard comedy crew. The story of Audrey (Olivia Munn) and Tommy (Paul Schneider) — a perfectly happy couple who begin to unravel when trying to get pregnant — the film dabbles in the romantic comedy tropes that “Super Troopers” and “Beerfest” were generally too drunk or too stoned to earnestly bother with.
“Well, we’re certainly going through that in our lives –we’re getting married, trying to have kids,” says Broken Lizard member and “Babymakers” director Jay Chandrasekhar. “It really hits on some of the issues we’re all going through, but it still had the heist.”
The heist, it quickly turns out, is much more important to the film than babies. After a fertility doctor informs Tommy that he’s the problem, he recruits his friends to rob a sperm bank that houses a vile of his very healthy college-era sperm donation. As with most Broken Lizard films, Kevin Heffernan earns the bulk of the laughs by getting himself in sticky situations (this time, unfortunately, very literally). “You bring in the really good actors to do the good stuff, like Paul Schneider,” says Heffernan. “Personally, I’d rather be the guy hanging out the window than having a serious discussion with my wife — for me, that’s harder.”
Not that Heffernan gets all the good scenes. Chandrasekhar plays an incompetent Indian mobster recruited to assist with the robbery, a role he admits he was the natural frontrunner for. “Acting and directing — it’s the perfect way to ruin two perfectly good jobs,” says Chandrasekhar. “But the best way to get a good part is to audition for the part and give yourself the role.”
Girl talk
It’s a credit to Paul Schneider’s messy charm that it’s even plausible that the eerily beautiful Olivia Munn would talk to any of the guys in “The Babymakers.” But she wasn’t hired just for her looks.
“She has such a sense of timing and a funny, dark sense of humor, so she fits right in,” says Chandrasekhar.
