I’m not paying any attention to the Planes, Trains and Automobiles comparisons for Due Date. I simply went in to watch this, for what it is. Essentially, a buddy / road trip comedy from the director of The Hangover, Todd Phillps. Starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis who meet at an airport and end up on a no fly list, due to an incident, the pair hit the road and make for Los Angeles. Ethan Tremblay is heading for Hollywood, attempting to make it on TV and Peter Highman is heading home to his wife who is about to give birth to their first baby. That’s the story, nothing too complicated, confusing or taxing.
The two characters are really chalk and chees. Never before has that cliché been more fitting. Ethan is just a highly eccentric, yet innocent and simple individual who is returning from his fathers funeral, with his daddy’s ashes in a coffee tin. While on the other hand, Peter is an Architect and suffers from a few anger and temper issues. And the third cog in the wheel, is Sonny who is the most adorable little French Bulldog with a habit of…well wait and see. No dog spoilers here! The three embark on the cross country trip and get into a multitude of scrapes, some with hilarious consequences. There’s the inevitable getting to know you part, where Ethan asks a a barrage of questions, and both characters tolerate each other for a while until something happens and then it starts all over again, as they rebuild their so called friendship and eventually come to their, somewhat predictable conclusion. There are a number of really solid scenes here too though, which will certainly bring on the smiles and giggles. Personally, the scene where the guys sleep in the car and visit a drug den brought out some big laughs on my part!
The cast here are really, really good. Downey Jr. has always exhibited great comedic timing and oozes charisma here as a bit of an holier than thou character and Galifianakis plays the eccentric part almost too convincingly. For what many might think is a huge mismatch, the chemistry between them works really well and you do genuinely feel for each character and their tribulations. So much so, that at times Due Date is a very sweet and touching movie, with some really heartfelt moments. The rest of the cast, which include Jamie Foxx, Danny McBride and Juliette Lewis do an adequate job, but the movies lead characters really shine, especially the bearded one!
On the funny side, this isn’t the laugh out loud festival you might expect. Sure, there are a number of laugh out loud moments here, which I won’t spoil. At times it tries to be a little too clever and as a result it runs a little bland and flat from time to time, but not enough to take away from the fact of what it is. I was never blown away with Todd Phillips work in the Hangover, which wasn’t a bad movie by any standards, but this is pretty similar in the way it plods away methodically to its conclusion, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Whilst Due Date is not the comedy of the year, it does bring a number of laughs and at times is very sweet and it certainly stuck a chord with yours truly. Definitely worth a watch!
