Genre: Comedy
Release Date: 02 December 2010
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Running Time: 100 minutes
Directors: Todd Phillips
Producers: Todd Phillips, Daiel Goldberg, Susan Downey
Writers: Alan R Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel, Todd Phillips
Casts: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx
Plot: As a young man, Bruce Lee was a rebel who was always engaging in street fights with his buddies, KPeter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is an expectant first-time father whose wife's due date is a mere five days away. As Peter hurries to catch a flight home from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry when a chance encounter with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) forces Peter to hitch a ride with Ethan - on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip that will ultimately destroy several cars, numerous friendships and Peter's last nerve.
THE VERDICT
The talents behind this movie are undeniably been excellent. Director Todd Phillips had a great summer last year thanks to his undeniably fun and ecstasy plot in The Hangover. Then, you have Robert Downey Jr, a man whom in the past proved his versatility by playing an iron superhero, a brilliant yet wacky detective, gloomy psychopath watcher and many else. Zach Galifianakis with his difficult to pronounce name been ridiculous but workable comedian. The trio brought you Due Date, another road trip comedy that never gets old. Despite the big talents, could this be another The Hangover?
(PLOT SPOILERS BEGIN) Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr) is a bad tempered, ill-control attitudes and also a soon-to-be-father. Peter is on his way home to LA to present at the birth of his first child, a scheduled C-section, with his wife, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan). On the plane, he met Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), who had accidentally run his car through his door is sitting behind him in first class. After inadvertently using the words terrorist and bomb, Ethan has Peter shot by an air marshal with a rubber bullet. Both Peter and Ethan are forced off the plane before take-off. Now the duo has been put on the "No-Fly" list and the only way they can make it back to LA is by travelling on road, together. The road trip is marred with pretty - ugly of self-discovery. Can they make it back to LA despite their misadventure? (PLOT SPOILERS END)
If you are expecting the same ecstasy and carefree comedy like The Hangover, well don't put so much of those hope in it. Repeating the success from The Hangover is not easy when you have a weird match-up duo in the form of Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis. The match-up of the two actors was as guilty as the promises we have heard, causing movie to end up below the expectation with the consideration of the talents involved. Besides, the movie did not have enough key elements of been hilarious and memorable acts; rather the movie is trying to sell the ridiculous story about the duo. For that situation, it comes to a better understanding that the movie has sacrificed or lost some of the desire for pure hilarious dialogues and fun adventures along it.
Albeit, Due Date retained the same raunchy humor and dodgy characters, just like in The Hangover. However, the amount of pure hilarious dialogues have reduced greatly and to much surprise, not as funny as The Hangover. The comedies we have been expecting came in too sporadic, but still saves some best running gags and jokes to cheer up some afternoon. For example, I particularly love (SPOILER BEGINS) the running gag about Ethan's father's ashes contained in the coffee can (SPOILER ENDS). However, there is still a mile gap for Due Date to be considered or become an excellent comedy that truly stands out.
Todd Phillips have many hits or misses in the past, but this lies too close of been a miss. Unlike The Hangover or anything like Old School or Starsky & Hutch, this lacks a pretty much amount of pure magical entertainment but if you want something like a dumbfounded comedy, you have this one. The movie that supposed to be based on their partnership in enduring any troubles seems awkward throughout the end. It has the typical one trouble maker and one who tries to restore it - but the partnership or rather the chemistry we are hoping from the duo remains unclear until the end. Despite the undue circumstances, you can see that actually both actors have been giving a pretty decent performance, yet they don't really connect.
In the end, Due Date represents a weird story about road trip that requires a dateline but there isn't much laugh we can make with this sporadic comedy. The partnership between Peter and Ethan remains unclear throughout the movie and they lack of proper chemistry. The movie remains pretty much awkward at all the time. Instead the movie sits prettily over the lines between enjoyable and underwhelming. Some may enjoy it but most of the time, the movie did not seems to have the similar kicking punches like other Todd Phillips' works. Due Date is pretty much wasted considering the talents behind it.
THE RATING
Story : 3.0 stars
Casts : 3.5 stars
Cinematography : 4.0 stars
Effects : 3.5 stars
OVERALL : 3.5 stars
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 13.5
DUE DATE is racing to meet the deadline beginning this week.
