Due Date Movie Review

by Rick Grant
This buddy road picture is based on the premise that an airline flight goes horribly wrong and two complete strangers are forced to travel together by car to Los Angeles. The comedy is delivered by two very funny actors, Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifianakis.
Since Zack was a stand out in The Hangover and on HBO’s,” Bored to Death,” his status has skyrocketed and producer Daniel Goldberg rushed this project to fruition.
Of course, Robert Downey Jr. added his best straight man banter to the mix and the project turned out to be a gem of a comedy. Zack Galifianakis is naturally funny just doing dead pan. Add a stoned pug dog to the ensemble and the picture generates continuous laughs from start to finish.
The caper begins with Downey’s character Peter Highman trying to fly home to see the birth of his first child. He runs into Zach’s weirdo character Ethan Tremblay outside the airport. They get their bags mixed up which starts their problems. Then when they get on the plane, their banter gets the other passengers upset, and both Peter and Ethan get arrested. Both are cleared but end up on the “no fly list.”
Madness ensues as the two mismatched traveling companions encounter a litany of problems mostly caused by Ethan’s screw-ups. Although the film is a paint-by numbers buddy road concept, director, Todd Phillips takes the viewer on a crazy ride across the country.
Ethan feeds off Peter’s paranoia and the two travelers begin to second guess each other. The two actors greatly enhance the script with their instinctual comedic acting. Downey is the straight man and rips apart Ethan’s nerdy ways.
On this road trip, everything goes wrong that can go wrong and the laughs are continuous throughout the entire film. What more could you ask for in a comedy.