Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis, RZA, and Danny McBride
Directed By: Todd Phillips
Screenplay By: Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland and Adam Sztykiel & Todd Phillips
Story By: Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland
Produced By: Todd Phillips and Dan Goldberg
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Rating: R, for language, drug use and sexual content.
Running Time: Approximately 100 minutes
Website: duedatemovie.warnerbros.com
Budget: $65 million
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: November 5, 2010
There are a handful of actors working today that have done such consistently good work, and earned the goodwill of both their peers and the movie-going public, that they can do no wrong. One would assume that many count Robert Downey Jr. among that select group.
So when a big-budget, studio-backed comedy co-written and directed by Todd Phillips, the guy responsible for 2009’s The Hangover (which holds the distinction of being the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all-time) pairs a talent of Downey Jr.’s stature alongside a rising star (Hangover breakout Zach Galifianakis), of course expectations run high.
Is Phillips’ follow-up, the new ultra-black comedy Due Date, as funny or funnier than The Hangover? I couldn’t say one way or the other since I have not seen The Hangover. What I can say though is Due Date owes a great deal of gratitude to a couple of seminal road movies from the 1980s: John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Martin Brest’s Midnight Run.
As with Hughes‘ film, Due Date is about a businessman – in this case, an architect from Los Angeles – named Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) who is eager to return home from a quick business trip to Atlanta but his efforts are unexpectedly thwarted. His pregnant wife, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan, saddled with a nothing role and who was preggers for real during filming) is scheduled to give birth to their first child in a few days, and he desperately wants to be there for the delivery. But following a couple of heated encounters with an eccentric aspiring actor by the name of Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) at the airport both men are throw off their direct flight from Atlanta to LA and placed on the “no-fly” list.
Making the situation even worse is the fact that Peter inadvertently left his wallet and ID on the plane, an error that forces him to swallow his pride and take Ethan up on his invitation to make the cross country trek with him and his equally weird bulldog, Sonny, in a rental car.
Reminiscent of DeNiro and Charles Grodin in Midnight Run, the initially buttoned-up Downey Jr. and the decidedly buttoned-down Galifianakis banter and bicker with devilish glee in this ultra-black, unapologetically mean-spirited comedy. Downey Jr.’s willingness to inhabit a character who does some reprehensible things along the way is refreshing considering how big of a star he is thanks to the success of the Iron Man film franchise. Even when the material falls short, he manages to spin it into comedy gold. Galifianakis’ man-child shtick is an acquired taste. He and Downey, Jr. find their groove early on and make for an entertaining mismatched pair of traveling companions. The fact that Downey Jr. doesn’t completely blow him off the screen says something about his contribution to the film.
The director and three other people are credited with writing the film, there are parts that really work. The sequence featuring Juliette Lewis (making a memorable impression with limited screen time as she does in Conviction, also currently in theaters) as a weed dealing, single mom out of Alabama that Ethan finds online is hilarious. There are parts that don’t, however, like an overcooked subplot about trouble at the Mexican border that plays like it was lifted from another movie altogether. Admittedly, it’s a hot mess, albeit an entertaining hot mess thanks largely to Downey Jr.’s transcendent work.
Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Ray) shows up in an extended cameo as an ex-NFL player and friend to Peter that comes to his aide in Texas, and “Eastbound & Down” star Danny McBride kills in a brief appearance as a cash checking place employee who schools both Downey Jr. and Galifianakis.
Grade: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
