Baby Mama

Welcome back to my Buzz Gift Guide series for all the entertainment lovers in your life. Yesterday I sifted through the stacks (er, Web pages) of music, DVDs, and books to find some of the best 2008 has to offer dudes. Today I will share with you some 2008 entertainment gift ideas for the ladies.

It's no secret how much I love Jenny Lewis and I will be spreading the gospel this year by handing out her newest album Acid Tongue to my girlfriends (or at least including her songs on the mix CDs I'll make this holiday season). I'll also be giving out Aimee Mann's newest album, as I think it's pretty awesome.

It was a good year for books: I read both The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum and Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and would definitely recommend them. In the movies department, might I suggest the hilarious Baby Mama or Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day on DVD?

Since I watch more TV than most people I know, I use the holidays to not-so-subtly suggest to friends what I know they would love, like 30 Rock or Greek. And many of my friends have grown to love Lipstick Jungle, so it would be a treat for them to receive the show's first season on DVD.

A couple more ideas below, so have fun scrolling on through.

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my selections below, you can also check out Jackie Chan and Jet Li in The Forbidden Kingdom and Lee Pace in The Fall.

Baby Mama
Hurray for Baby Mama out on DVD! I really enjoyed this good-natured, fun ride when I saw it in theaters and I'm so eager to go back for more now that I can add it to my Netflix queue. The movie stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as total opposites who band together in order to make a baby. Basically, Fey's character is a successful woman who wants to have a baby, and Poehler is her wrong-side-of-the-tracks surrogate. Together they make a hilarious comedic team, and while the movie has its faults, it's mostly an all-around good time.

I would love to spend some behind-the-scenes time with Poehler and Fey, and thankfully the special features give me that chance! They include deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and featurettes including "From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama" and "Saturday Night Live: Legacy of Laughter" in which Tina Fey and Amy Poehler talk about working with other SNL alums.

Two more titles to chat about this week, so read more

Traditionally, Memorial Day weekend is very kind to Summer blockbusters, and this year was no exception for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. According to Variety, the return of the Steven Spielberg franchise was his biggest movie opening ever, hauling in an estimated $126 million over the four-day holiday.

While these results are a career high for Spielberg, the film itself did not break any box office records related to this holiday weekend or any other long weekend openings.

Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian dropped to second place followed by Iron Man. The fourth spot went to What Happens in Vegas, which continues to perform well, followed by Made of Honor at No. 5 and Baby Mama at No. 6.

John Cusack's War Inc. — also starring Hillary Duff — opened in limited release and did not make the top 10.

Photos courtesy of Paramount

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian handily won the top stop at the box office over the weekend, though it failed to bring in as much as the first Narnia film did in 2005.

In the "yikes" department, Speed Racer (already struggling at the box office) dropped from third place to fourth, only earning an estimated $7.6 million this weekend. Iron Man continued to set records, holding strong at second place while What Happens in Vegas took third. In fact, Iron Man was the first film to earn over $200 million at the domestic box office this year, according to Variety. Baby Mama closed out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney

Update: As of this afternoon, What Happens in Vegas beat out Speed Racer for the No. 2 spot at the box office, Variety reports.

It will come as no surprise to the majority of movie critics who screened Speed Racer that the highly anticipated Wachowski brothers' flick had a disappointing opening weekend.

Not only did Speed Racer fail to knock Iron Man out of the top spot (the Marvel action hero brought in another $50 million over the weekend), but it's still unclear if the film can truly claim second place as What Happens in Vegas is hot on its trail in what Variety is calling a "photo finish." Vegas only earned an estimated $200,000 less than Speed Racer and both films are currently hovering around the $20 million mark.

In addition to poor reviews, another problem Speed Racer had is that it seemed to only appeal to kids, and filmmakers were shooting for a broader audience. An executive for the film told Hollywood Reporter, "What's hurting us is that the picture is playing very young." The Hollywood Reporter article also points out that if this is the case, then they'll have a hard time when even more competition heads to the theaters next weekend in the form of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Made of Honor fell to fourth place followed by Baby Mama to round out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

• Iron Man took the top spot at the weekend box office with an impressive $104.2 million in ticket sales. In case you were one of the few who didn't see it, stay after the credits to see a teaser for Iron Man 2! Made of Honor came in at number two, followed by Baby Mama at third. — BuzzSugar
• Prince Harry was awarded a military service medal today for his 10 weeks of service on the front lines in Afghanistan earlier this year. — CitizenSugar
• Miley Cyrus unexpectedly performed at the Disney Channel Games over the weekend, where she avoided questions about her controversial Vanity Fair photos but thanked fans for their support. — The Orlando Sentinel
• Bruce Springsteen, Meryl Streep, and 13 other famous New Jerseyans were inducted into the state's Hall of Fame last night, despite the fact that the building hasn't been constructed yet. — AP
• Amy Winehouse is said to be making a special appearance at an upcoming London performance by Pete Doherty, who is set to be released from prison tomorrow. — The Mirror

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

The world has gone gaga for comedian Amy Poehler. The 36-year-old and her husband Will Arnett are starting a family, with their first baby due this Fall.

According to People, the mama-to-be has been busy. It said:

This has been a big week for Poehler. Baby Mama, costarring Tina Fey, landed in the No. 1 box-office spot this weekend, and her Nickelodeon show, The Mighty B, also debuted.

Congratulations!

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• Miley Cyrus has issued an apology after outtakes from a revealing Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair photo shoot hit the Internet over the weekend. The magazine stands by the photos, saying her parents were both present during the shoot and approved of the photos. — lilsugar
• Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took the top spot at the weekend box office with Baby Mama, followed by Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and Forbidden Kingdom. — BuzzSugar
• Amy Winehouse was cautioned by London police, but not formally charged, following an accusation of assault last week. Her father, Mitch, also spoke out confirming Amy's affair and saying that she should seek treatment in a mental hospital. — PopSugar UK
• Ashley Judd's racecar driving husband Dario Franchitti broke his ankle after he crashed during a race in Talladega, AL, on Saturday. — USA Today
• Model Angie Everhart was arrested in LA last Thursday for DUI and released after posting $15,000 bond. — TMZ
• Country singer Kenny Chesney seriously injured his foot during a concert on Saturday night in Columbia, SC, but he still managed to complete his show. — CMT News

It's always exciting when a comedy that's genuinely funny does well with audiences, and that was the case this weekend with the female buddy comedy Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

The ladies won the top spot with an estimated $18.3 million, handily beating out the other comedy opening over the weekend, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. EW reports that while this wasn't the best movie opening for either Fey or Poehler, their film did much better than many box office watchers predicted. In fact, Baby Mama gave Universal Studios its first box office winner of the year.

The Forbidden Kingdom was No. 3 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall was right behind in the fourth spot, with both films earning approximately $11 million their second weekend out — a respectable achievement.

While Fey and company had good reason to pop the champagne, another film didn't post opening-weekend results worthy of celebration. Deception, starring Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams, "fared dismally," as Variety put it. The thriller barely beat Street Kings for the No. 10 spot, earning only $2.2 million over the weekend. I thought that the very talented cast did the best they could with poor material, but apparently that wasn't enough of a draw.

So, which movies did you check out this weekend? Did any of you see both Baby Mama and Harold and Kumar?

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