In the movie Due Date, Peter Highman’s (Robert Downey Jr.) wife is going to have a baby in five days and he has to get from Atlanta to California to be at her side when she delivers. When he gets to the airport, he has the misfortune of meeting Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) an aspiring actor, who is also on his way to LA. After an incident on the flight, Peter and Ethan are both banned from the plane. Peter ends up having to hitch a ride with Ethan on a cross country road trip that turns out to be the worst decision he could have possibly made.
This movie was extremely funny. The pairing of Downey and Galifianakis was excellent. There were a lot of scenes in this movie that had me burst out laughing. Galifianakis is one of the funniest comedic partners an actor can have with them in a movie. Since his role in “Hangover†he has gotten funnier and funnier in each movie he’s been in. Downey is showing that he has fully turned his career around and is at the top of his game. He is convincing as an action star, and a comedic actor. Even though most of the comedic scenes come by way of Galifianakis, Downey is the perfect straight man to play against an off the wall actor such as Zach. Jamie Foxx also has a cameo in the movie and he too basically feeds off of Zach’s lead. Another cameo which was a surprise was Juliette Lewis. She really didn’t bring much to the movie, but the scene involving her character’s kids and Downey was one of those bust out laughing moments. The last cameo came by way of Danny McBride. He too is becoming quite the comedic star and I feel that a pairing with him and Zach would be genius. The two of them always play strange characters and their teaming up would be a laugh a minute.
At times this movie reminded me of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles†which starred Steve Martin and John Candy, minus the trains, but it definitely stood out as its own cross country road trip buddy movie. I gave this movie 2 ¾ babies out of 4. The pairing of Robert and Zach was definitely unexpected, but the result was well worth it. The movie ran 1 hour and 40mins. It was rated R for language, drug use and sexual content. The film was written by Adam Sztykiel (ll), Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, and Todd Phillips. It was directed by Todd Phillips. The film was produced by Green Hat Films, Legendary Pictures, Inc. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
If you ever get kicked off a flight, make sure you have traveling money. Ezo
Next week’s review: Skyline
