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Coming on like a modern day "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", Due Date is Todd Phillips' followup to the grossly overrated "Hangover". That film had its moments, but overall, I just didn't connect with the characters. The one major saving grace was Zach Galifianakis, who was absolutely hilarious, but his character was flanked by two other characters who could balance out his craziness. Here, his Ethan is the focus of the story, and taking this trip with him can be downright torturous at times.
Robert Downey, Jr.'s Peter and Ethan meet at the Atlanta airport, complete opposites. Peter is a straight laced architect, Ethan a pot smoking wanna be actor. Peter's got to get home to his wife for the birth of their child, but after Ethan gets both of them put on the no fly list, Peter has no choice but to join Ethan for a road trip back to Los Angeles. Along the way there are car accidents, trips for glaucoma medicine (which allows the filmmakers to make a joke about former addict Downey playing the drug free Peter), a jaunt across the border into Mexico, and a self-pleasuring dog.
There is nothing really new or special in this movie in terms of story. We've seen opposites on a road trip a million times before, so the characters have to be something special. Unfortunately, as I said before, Ethan doesn't seems to exist on a plane all his own. He does incredibly dumb things, and the only purpose seems to be to do incredibly dumb things. His actions aren't based in reality, which makes it hard to sympathize when the script changes course. Downey, Jr. does his best to keep up, but his character does little more than react to Ethan's antics. There are some enjoyable moments in the movie, and some great cameos by Julliette Lewis and Jamie Foxx, but it's still a spotty comedy that just isn't that funny.
Coming on like a modern day "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", Due Date is Todd Phillips' followup to the grossly overrated "Hangover". That film had its moments, but overall, I just didn't connect with the characters. The one major saving grace was Zach Galifianakis, who was absolutely hilarious, but his character was flanked by two other characters who could balance out his craziness. Here, his Ethan is the focus of the story, and taking this trip with him can be downright torturous at times.