Review of Robert Downey Jr's Due Date Movie Directed by Todd Phillips
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DUE DATE (2010)
DOWNEY ON A HIGH
Due Date Movie 2010
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By Bryn V. Young-Roberts
Due Date (2010) Directed by Todd Phillips. USA: 15. On an urgent trip home from Atlanta to be present for his pregnant wife’s due date in Los Angeles, Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) happens upon eccentric aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) and his French bulldog Sonny. Banned from travelling by air, Highman finds himself at the mercy of Tremblay, who despite being subjected to vehement hatred and violent verbal abuse from Highman (for being the cause of his no-fly restriction), offers to drive him to L. A. With Downey Jr.’s character at his throat almost the entire way they race against time to reach their destination, Tremblay both intentionally and unintentionally hampering efforts along the way. After getting into fights, a beating from a man in a wheelchair, smoking pot, stealing a police truck and visiting the Grand Canyon, the men incur cinematic hilarity as they endeavour to get along for the sake of the journey. But can they endure each other long enough to arrive alive, let alone in time? It’s obvious from the get-go that the humour of this comedic road movie will be stemming from the relationship between Peter Highman and Ethan Tremblay’s polar opposite characters. |
Downey Jr.’s uptight and highly strung architect character with anger issues is easily rubbed the wrong way by Galifianakis’ rotund, bearded, laid-back, pot smoking dreamer, whose irritating ways are often forgiven by the audience due to the accompaniment of his ugly, yet wide-eyed dog, a double for the character that emphasises his innocence. Apart from The Odd Couple (1968) based humour, the duo also provide laughs of the slapstick and taboo-breaking variety, mostly at the expense of Highman’s physical and mental health. Chemistry between the two is squabblingly good, occasionally carrying the film when the gags are sparse, which thankfully, is not too frequent.
'Hey, aren't you Iron Man?' - Due Date Movie
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Due Date 2010 - Galifianakis lets Downey Jr know what his favourite part of 'Aliens' is.
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While Downey Jr. is utterly convincing in his performance as easily frustrated and then angry father-to-be, audience foreknowledge of the actor’s personal life make one scene where he insinuates a disapproval of drug-taking a little awkward to swallow. Galifianakis performance flawlessly suggests that he is the ever-annoying Tremblay, even on occasion counter-productively as the character’s erratic, eccentric behaviour and sexually ambiguous mannerisms become slightly too grating to enjoy for a comedy. Initially this makes the character difficult to gauge and even seemingly too dark for a light-hearted film. However as the journey endures and the subtext of the duo’s relationship as toddler son and new father learning to cope with parenthood is revealed, the extremities of both characters are forgiven as they come to be understood within the context of bickering family members.
Still not as gay as Twilight - The Due Date Movie
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Off Road Movie? Due Date
'It's not medically advisable to fall asleep while you're driving' - Peter Highman
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Sadly the talented Michelle Monaghan is grossly underused as the generic and uninteresting wife and mother-to-be in what could have been a fun, quirky tongue-in-cheek reunion for her and Downey Jr. that continued their exciting chemistry from 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Other performances in the film by A-list stars, while adequate, are distracting and fail to gel, cameos by Juliette Lewis and Jamie Foxx never managing to break free from the gravitational pull of stunt casting’s orbit.
Director Todd Phillips delivers the film with a maturity and pathos beyond its original infantile potential, layering it with subtle thoughts on birth and death in between crude laugh-out-load taboo busters. Although ultimately a very funny film, it lacks the gags and warmth of John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), (of which it is loosely a remake of) repeatedly selling out on sincerity for grossly bawdy humour that appears less truthful and only half as amusing as its more subtle comedic moments. Despite an anti-climactic ending that brushes over any resolutions, Due Date is infinitely superior in laughs, wit and intelligence than Galifianakis and Phillips previous collaboration, the one-trick pony The Hangover (2009), delivering characters and a plot worthy of a sequel.
Director Todd Phillips delivers the film with a maturity and pathos beyond its original infantile potential, layering it with subtle thoughts on birth and death in between crude laugh-out-load taboo busters. Although ultimately a very funny film, it lacks the gags and warmth of John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), (of which it is loosely a remake of) repeatedly selling out on sincerity for grossly bawdy humour that appears less truthful and only half as amusing as its more subtle comedic moments. Despite an anti-climactic ending that brushes over any resolutions, Due Date is infinitely superior in laughs, wit and intelligence than Galifianakis and Phillips previous collaboration, the one-trick pony The Hangover (2009), delivering characters and a plot worthy of a sequel.
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