Due Date

This feature is a Road Film in which uptight businessman Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) and aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay-a.k.a. Ethan Chase (Zach Galifianakis) cross paths unexpectantly at an airport, and can't seem to get away from each other- literally. Ethan, a whimsical optimist, accidently gets Peter put on the "No Fly," list at the airport after he causes the businessman's short fuse to burst in an airplane fight before take off. Peter, who has a very pregnant wife at his home across several states and whose wallet was left on the plane he was escorted from, is in a tricky predicament: He can do his best on his own and stay in control of his actions, but probably not get very far, or he can shack up in Ethan Tremblay's car for the ride home to Las Angeles, sandwiched in between his awkward white dog and coffee can full of his dead father's ashes- not to mention the overwhelming smell of medical marijuana that awaits him on every nap he takes (for Ethan's "Glaucoma").

Due Date (2010) was directed by Todd Phillips, who also directed Old School (2003) and The Hangover (2009). The original screenplay is written by Alan Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel and (of course) Todd Phillips. Phillips also appears briefly in the film as a character named "Barry" who walks in on Ethan's drug deal at the mother-of-two's house. Apparently, the film was sent to theatres under the code name, "Maternity Day" though I have absolutely no idea as to why. While it didn't collect great reviews from the critics or online, I found this film to be more original than some of the crap out there, and definitely funny as well.

I don’t have many bad things to say about the movie, so I’ll just say that the only thing I didn’t like was that Peter’s character arc did seem a little bit forced. There wasn’t a big enough push for him to change, but there was a distinct change in his character at the same time. The change was present, but there didn’t seem to be a catalyst. Or, there were some LITTLE pushes, but nothing too huge. There were also a couple of small things that never get explained, for example (SPOILER) when Ethan steals the officer’s truck and takes it with him to Las Angeles, they run the officer off the road… but no other officers ever come into the movie to retrieve the vehicle? It could be argued that the officer smoked Ethan’s pot, however, so maybe they didn’t call for back up… it does seem like they would, though.

Everything else about the movie was really good. It was funnier than I expected, both physically and verbally. There were quality moments of low comedy, with action and coordinated fighting in a humorous way, and then there were also classic lines from both Galifianakis and Downey. I would reccomend this to anyone who likes either actor, or who enjoyed the humor in "I Love You Man" or "Forgetting Sara Marshall" because it's very close to those two styles. It's not a bad movie for a date, either, even though there isn't much of a love story present (which is a friggen BLESSING sometimes!! Not every friggen character needs to be falling in love).