REVIEW: Due Date

DUDES AWEIGH

Todd Phillips, whose The Hangover was such a hit, does another mismatched-males-on-a-trip film, reminiscent of John Hughes’ 1987 film Planes, Trains And Automobiles; but he proves that good writing and skilled direction can wring juice out of a dry shell of an ideal.

Put one uptight man and one weirdo together on a forced road trip and the result partly very funny, partly gross out and one small part tender—the idea of grown men realizing what it means to be really grown up. Hollywood calls such movies ‘bromances.’

Ill-tempered businessman Peter (Robert Downey Jr), is trying to get home in time for the birth of his first child. Due to the antics of the idiotic Ethan (Zach Galifianakis, replicating his Hangover character), both men get thrown out of the plane and put on the blacklist.  Peter luggage and wallet are on the plane, so he is forced to share a car from Atlanta to LA with the irritating aspiring actor.

The road trip is made exciting and eventful, by the bizarre things that happen on the way, and cameos by stars like Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis and the director himself.  It’s not as hysterically hilarious as The Hangover, but the ingredients are all there, and it’s not all witless slapstick either, as many such odd-twosome films tend to be, especially when hinging on a thin wire of a plot.  There is an inventiveness to the gags, spirited performances, and in the end, some sympathy created for the two basically ‘unlikeable’ characters.