DUE DATE

The Hangover Director, Todd Phillips, brings us yet another raucous, formulaic comedy, but this time with an improvisational feel and a two-time academy award nominated actor. Due Date tracks the four-day journey of Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.), a stress induced rage filled businessman, as he attempts to make his way home for the birth of his first child. After being forcefully ejected from an aircraft due to an argument over the use of the words “bomb” and “terrorist” on planes, he is left with little other choice than to embark on a cross-country road trip with the very man responsible for said removal, Ethan Tremblay (Zack Galifianakis).

Rest assured Hangover lovers, Due Date packs a double handful of laughs as the two unlikely companions wrestle their way through the obstacles thrown in their path. In particular, the scenes in which Downey attempts to reason, or even have a somewhat logical conversation with the ditsy-yet-lovable Galifianakis, are downright hilarious. Galifianakis certainly has the gift of making the completely absurd believable, and therefore, quite funny. His sincerity and spontaneity as Tremblay give the audience a clear example of his unique comedic genius, and leave one wondering how many of his lines were scripted, and how many were spur of the moment additions that made the final cut. This performance, in many scenes, provides the perfect balance for Downey’s somewhat contemptuously cynical, 

condescending Peter.

Where this movie fails is in its creation of a main protagonist who is so despicable for 45 minutes of this film that it is hard to care about his main objective of getting back to his new family. For goodness sake, the man assaults a small child! It would have enabled much greater involvement in the character and the film if the audience wasn’t wondering A. how this man ever managed to get someone to marry him, and B. if it wouldn’t be better if he didn’t die somewhere along the side of the road rather than subject this poor woman and their unborn child to his tyranny.

This unfortunate attribute was particularly pronounced next to Galifianakis, whose Tremblay was so innocent and likable. In fact, there were some scenes between the two of them that were just really sad, far beyond the usual sympathy one feels for the goofy, clueless, loser. The discomfort in this juxtaposition mounts when violence erupts between the two at the hands of Downey. He is simply so mean that the beating ceases to be funny, and looks more like a serious domestic assault.

It is important to be able to find something likable about the film’s main character and its driving force. When Downey’s Peter is finally given some likable traits and signs that he might be calming down, the transition are so oddly placed and unwarranted that it kills what could have been a nice character arc. It is almost as if Phillips didn’t trust Downey to know when to start softening up, and just pushed the repetitive anger until it just couldn’t make sense any more. Todd, you are working with one of the strongest actors of our time, let the man do his thing! All of that said, Downey does have his moments, and even when he is a total Scrooge, he and Galifianakis do share some very funny exchanges.

Personally, I feel every laugh was shown in one of the two trailers that I watched, but there were laugh out loud parts to Due Date. Peter’s freak-outs on Ethan were classic and delivered in a way that wasn’t too over the top. There were a few moments where I feel, based on the circumstances, he held it together better than I would have.

I went into the film thinking that Ethan was going to annoy me to no end, but I found him surprisingly endearing. Granted, there were a few moments (his drug stops, falling asleep at the wheel, the fake name) that made me question his sanity; HOWEVER, I understand that all of these things were the catalyst to make the film funny.

And surprisingly it worked.

While its main focus was obviously comedy, there were a few scenes that took you out of the laughter and made the film more dramatic, and also gave a little depth to the characters, which I appreciated. I understand that I’m in the minority with that one – not many people see a comedy for character development. But the few scenes with Ethan’s father’s ashes, primarily when he spills them on the carpet and Peter helps pick them up, tugged at me. It was unexpected in a film like this.

Of course despite the fights, the mishaps, and yes, even a shooting, everything works out in the end.

My favorite lines that made me actually laugh out loud:

“I got 90 friends on Facebook. 12 of them are pending, but I have 90 friends.”

“I’m sorry we drank your dad.” “It’s okay. He enjoyed coffee. And in the end he was enjoyed AS coffee. Circle of life.”

“I’m at the grand canyon. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Due Date didn’t break any barriers, or try to bring anything new to the movies, but looking at it for what it was – a comedy meant to entertain for an hour and a half, it was great.

watch Trailer here