DUE DATE Review

The films of Todd Phillips have always highlighted the American male in crisis, struggling to make that difficult transition from college adolescent to responsible member of the community. The boys who always want to remain beer guzzling jock assholes are forced to man-up and embrace the realities of adult life, more often than not by committing to marriage and/or fatherhood. As such, Phillips subverts the normal comedy cliché of having the woman be the coveted trophy, instead often making her the antagonist. Whether in OLD SCHOOL, THE HANGOVER or even SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS, Phillips' heroes succeed not by getting the girl, but by reevaluating themselves and taking that oh so important step forward in their lives whilst gaining or retaining the respect of the other guys.

 

In DUE DATE, Robert Downey Jr. plays Peter Highman (geddit?), a successful yet highly-strung expectant father whose chance run-in with flamboyant, yet vulnerable wannabe actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) at Atlanta airport sees him ejected from his flight without his luggage or ID and both of them placed on the no-fly list. Peter's only option, if he is to make it the 2000 miles back to Los Angeles in time for the birth of his child, is to accept a ride from Ethan, and embark on a road trip filled with incident, infraction and ultimately a little introspection.

If this all sounds a little like John Hughes' Thanksgiving favourite PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, that's because it basically is the same movie. The mismatched couple barely survives the 72 hours they are cooped up together in a crappy rental car, with only Ethan's recently deceased father's ashes and obsessively self-gratifying dog as distraction.

As one might expect from this kind of narrative structure, there are plentiful opportunities for a number of high profile cameos along the way. Wu Tang Clan's RZA pops up early on as an inappropriate customs officer, Juliette Lewis continues to embody poor white trash as a medicinal marijuana "doctor", which leads to a hilarious scene where Peter is forced to baby-sit her ill disciplined children. Jamie Foxx also appears as an old school friend of Peter's whose attempts to help only further upset and enrage our already strung out travellers.

The comedy in DUE DATE comes thick and fast, ranging wildly from slapstick, to drug-infused hallucinations to throwaway gags about haircuts and masturbation. Almost all the jokes hit the mark (save for a running gag about Downey being clean) and the film frequently has the audience either laughing hysterically or squirming with revulsion.

The film's biggest single asset is the onscreen chemistry between its two leads. Zack Galifianakis takes his familiar onscreen persona of the fragile nerd with a slightly askew world view and successfully plunders the perennial cliché of the effete thespian with remarkable effectiveness. Ethan is both frighteningly fragile yet equally crass and blissfully insensitive of the needs and vulnerabilities of others, often winding his new friend up not because of Peter's latent prejudices but rather his own inability to gauge what is appropriate. 

Downey Jr. ensures he gets his fair share of good moments too, playing impatient, short-fused and woefully insecure to a tee. Much of the comedy comes from Peter falling outside of his comfort zone time after time, and it is impossible not to succumb to the schedenfreude as this arrogant and objectionable man gets pummeled into respectability by Galifianakis' hairy fairy. Writers Alan R. Cohen and Allen Freedland (KING OF THE HILL) stack the calamities one on top of the other with gleefully sadistic abandon, and what starts out as harmless bickering swiftly accumulates into car crashes, broken bones, gunshot wounds and even a spot of accidental cannibalism. Sure enough, Peter and Ethan's worlds come crashing to their knees and these supposed grown men are forced to confront their own failings and immaturities before they can get home. What Phillips and his actors are able to do, and why DUE DATE ultimately succeeds, is by striking a perfect balance between the audience hating these guys, and ultimately still wanting to see them get where they are going.