Leave your comfort zone, and expect a sour aftertaste.
American comedies can be hard to watch. With these films there may be some clever writing and good performances, but more likely pratfalls, stupid humour and bodily functions. Although Due Date’s director had success due to the former with The Hangover, this film is more like his more his films steeped in the latter, like Old School and Starsky & Hutch.
A run in with amateur actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis – The Hangover) sees soon-to-be-father Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr. – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) kicked off his flight home and banned from the friendly skies. Left without his wallet and luggage, he is forced to hitch a ride with Ethan in order to make it back to LA for the birth of his child.*
*Read: An insufferable, socially retarded Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis – The Hangover) spends what feels like an eternity on a road trip with violent, child beating asshole Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr. – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) in which the two vie to deliver the least funny line in a film that is anything but humorous.
I don’t know who to hate more. Ethan is a clichéd comedy-moron who isn’t as goofy as he is embarrassing to watch. Peter’s constant reminders for him to go to the bathroom before getting back in the car aren’t even slightly funny the first time, and the sub-plot that focuses on the scattering of his father’s ashes does little more than pad a film and result in a single joke that can be seen coming from its inception.
Ah, now I understand why he's not funny.
Then there’s Peter, or should I say Robert Downey Jr.? The man is a great actor but he’s spent way too long playing smug, well-to-do characters. Though it is easy to be empathetic early on for this man, so desperate is he to go home and be with his wife when she gives birth, these feelings soon dissipate when he punches a young boy in the stomach.
Peter Highman would make a good father.
The fact that he even gets in the car with Ethan is the least believable part in this film. If any of us met a guy like Ethan, we’d assume he was psychotic and stay as far away from him as possible. After all he has been through, Peter is way too quick to jump into the passenger seat.
The film tries really hard to be both humorous and dramatic, yet fails undeniably at both. It tries hard to instil moments of tension between the characters here and there that are more than just the quirky events you’d expect in such a film, but most fade away within a minute of being revealed. This is especially evident just before the film’s climax in a scene atop the Grand Canyon (which references a much, much better film) where Ethan’s true lunacy is revealed. In the end it does nothing but remind us how reprehensible these characters are.
This is a film to be avoided, even if you tend to have faith in the cast and crew behind it. I watched Due Date solely on the belief that Downey Jr. can make anything enjoyable. He certainly proved me wrong here.
P.S. Sorry it's been so long since my last review. It's been a crazy year.
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