“Due Date” is a comedy that arrives at a time right before the seriousness of Oscar season gets underway. The film stars Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr., and is passable entertainment for your eight dollars this week at the megaplex. From the director of “The Hangover,” Todd Phillips, “Due Date,” doesn’t offer the belly laughs so ubiquitous in Phillip’s 2009 sleeper hit, but this film is still entertaining in its own right.
Robert Downey Jr. is the extremely high strung Peter Highman who has five days to get home from a business trip in Atlanta in order to see the birth of his firstborn. Through unfortunate circumstances, he lands himself on the no-fly list and loses his wallet and his luggage. Zach Galifianakis offers up yet another character in his already wide repertoire of clueless, idiotic roles. He plays Ethan Tremblay, who gets in a fender bender at the airport with Peter. Instantly, we get the feeling Ethan is going to be bad news. “We haven’t been drinking,” he insists. “We just split a six pack.” Pause. “Of 40s.” Ethan is an aspiring actor, gets kicked off the plane and gives Downey Jr.’s desperate Peter a ride cross-country to L.A. Poor Peter endures all of Ethan’s chaos-inducing antics, while anxiously trying to get back home.
The formula of the movie is tired: the tightly wound guy meets an absolute idiot who creates chaos and misfortune for the two of them. At the end, the idiot makes the uptight guy relax and learn to be nice. Sound familiar? It was done earlier this summer in Paul Rudd and Steve Carell’s dismal “Dinner for Schmucks,” and in Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’s highly entertaining “The Other Guys.” “Due Date” seems to fall somewhere in the middle of these two, proving much funnier than “Dinner for Schmucks,” but not quite getting enough laughs to make it top “The Other Guys.”
More could have been done with the hilariously mismatched Galifianakis and Downey Jr., but they have a good chemistry together that makes it work for most of the film. Most of the hilarity comes out of the situations that the pair find themselves in, like mistakenly crossing the Mexican border while they’re both high or Downey Jr.’s Peter getting beaten up by a man at Western Union in a wheelchair. Most of the best dialogue and line delivery can be found in the trailer unfortunately, as is the case with too many comedies these days.
Also making a guest appearance in this film is the always delightfully trashy and equally spacey Juliette Lewis, playing a drug dealer. The look of awe on her face as Tremblay butchers one of Vito Corleone’s monologues in “The Godfather” is priceless. Also appearing in the film is the underused Jamie Foxx, who seems to be present only for a callback joke near the end of the film.
“Due Date” is not as raunchy as “The Hangover,” but the film does have some funny vulgar parts along with some uncomfortable and awkward situations that made “The Hangover” so great. Galifianakis, starring in both films, is exceedingly funnier in “The Hangover,” but still plays the idiotic, slightly effeminate character in “Due Date” nicely. This type casting is starting to get tired, but hopefully he’ll begin to start breaking out of these typical roles soon. Downey Jr. has seen some great success over the past years with his role in “Iron Man,” the absolutely hysterical Kirk Lazarus in “Tropic Thunder” and Sherlock Holmes in the titular film released in 2009. It’s interesting to see him play it straight here, and he does it quite well and it’s a nice change of pace.
“Due Date” is not this year’s “The Hangover,” by any stretch of the means. It’s funny, not hilarious, and will most likely fade into obscurity among 2010’s better and more successful films. If you’re bored this weekend and don’t feel like seeing Bruce Willis ham it up in “Red” or endure all the children in the audience during “Megamind,” then this film is a perfect R-rated comedy for your entertainment. A better suggestion would be to go see one of the year’s best films, “The Social Network,” or even view it a second time, but “Due Date” is a nice escape before all the serious November films are released or the clichéd nausea that are December holiday films arrive.
Where to Find It: In theaters 11/5
Rating: 3 stars
Robert Downey Jr. is the extremely high strung Peter Highman who has five days to get home from a business trip in Atlanta in order to see the birth of his firstborn. Through unfortunate circumstances, he lands himself on the no-fly list and loses his wallet and his luggage. Zach Galifianakis offers up yet another character in his already wide repertoire of clueless, idiotic roles. He plays Ethan Tremblay, who gets in a fender bender at the airport with Peter. Instantly, we get the feeling Ethan is going to be bad news. “We haven’t been drinking,” he insists. “We just split a six pack.” Pause. “Of 40s.” Ethan is an aspiring actor, gets kicked off the plane and gives Downey Jr.’s desperate Peter a ride cross-country to L.A. Poor Peter endures all of Ethan’s chaos-inducing antics, while anxiously trying to get back home.
The formula of the movie is tired: the tightly wound guy meets an absolute idiot who creates chaos and misfortune for the two of them. At the end, the idiot makes the uptight guy relax and learn to be nice. Sound familiar? It was done earlier this summer in Paul Rudd and Steve Carell’s dismal “Dinner for Schmucks,” and in Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’s highly entertaining “The Other Guys.” “Due Date” seems to fall somewhere in the middle of these two, proving much funnier than “Dinner for Schmucks,” but not quite getting enough laughs to make it top “The Other Guys.”
More could have been done with the hilariously mismatched Galifianakis and Downey Jr., but they have a good chemistry together that makes it work for most of the film. Most of the hilarity comes out of the situations that the pair find themselves in, like mistakenly crossing the Mexican border while they’re both high or Downey Jr.’s Peter getting beaten up by a man at Western Union in a wheelchair. Most of the best dialogue and line delivery can be found in the trailer unfortunately, as is the case with too many comedies these days.
Also making a guest appearance in this film is the always delightfully trashy and equally spacey Juliette Lewis, playing a drug dealer. The look of awe on her face as Tremblay butchers one of Vito Corleone’s monologues in “The Godfather” is priceless. Also appearing in the film is the underused Jamie Foxx, who seems to be present only for a callback joke near the end of the film.
“Due Date” is not as raunchy as “The Hangover,” but the film does have some funny vulgar parts along with some uncomfortable and awkward situations that made “The Hangover” so great. Galifianakis, starring in both films, is exceedingly funnier in “The Hangover,” but still plays the idiotic, slightly effeminate character in “Due Date” nicely. This type casting is starting to get tired, but hopefully he’ll begin to start breaking out of these typical roles soon. Downey Jr. has seen some great success over the past years with his role in “Iron Man,” the absolutely hysterical Kirk Lazarus in “Tropic Thunder” and Sherlock Holmes in the titular film released in 2009. It’s interesting to see him play it straight here, and he does it quite well and it’s a nice change of pace.
“Due Date” is not this year’s “The Hangover,” by any stretch of the means. It’s funny, not hilarious, and will most likely fade into obscurity among 2010’s better and more successful films. If you’re bored this weekend and don’t feel like seeing Bruce Willis ham it up in “Red” or endure all the children in the audience during “Megamind,” then this film is a perfect R-rated comedy for your entertainment. A better suggestion would be to go see one of the year’s best films, “The Social Network,” or even view it a second time, but “Due Date” is a nice escape before all the serious November films are released or the clichéd nausea that are December holiday films arrive.
Where to Find It: In theaters 11/5
Rating: 3 stars
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