Due Date

Due Date is a film that sits on the shoulders of its two leading men. Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis don't take turns in carrying the movie, but instead do it together as a team that's befitting while also being mismatched. Each at the top of their game, the two acclaimed actors commendably backpack the movie almost entirely on their own, aside from the occasional celebrity cameo they come across on their long-distance adventure.

The film's premise is a simple one -- take two characters who are essentially the complete opposite of each other, force them together in a stressful, inescapable situation, and watch the probably side-splitting turmoil ensue. For this, the movie is a respectable success, a crowd-pleaser that doesn't overstay its welcome and aims no higher than what could be called its limitations as a scenario.

Downey Jr. is Peter Highman, a suit-wearing architect who desperately wants to get to Los Angeles. He's on a job in Atlanta, and the due date for his pregnant wife, Sarah, (Gone Baby Gone's Michelle Monaghan) giving birth to the couple's first child is only five days away. He boards the plane that will take him home, ready to soon reunite with his preggers spouse, but, through a series of calamitous mishaps, ends up on the no-fly list.

Stranded in the airport car-park without his wallet or luggage, the wound-up stress-head is forced to tag along with the man who got him into the aggravating situation, aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis). Riding along with Ethan and the Hollywood wannabe's French bulldog called Sonny, Peter is slowly but surely driven nuts by his driver’s increasingly irritating quirks.

I'm sure you've noticed by now that the plot is strikingly similar to John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and you'd be right to spot the parallelism of the synopses. Both buddy road comedies, the two films follow our unlikely accomplices as they trek across the country, going from one outrageous fuck-up to the next ludicrous screw-up, with hilariously obscene consequences.

The more mileage the conflicting couple cover, the more preposterous their experience becomes. From a car crash to a gunshot, the hospital to the Mexican border, Peter's mental state is near rammed over its edge by Ethan's unorthodox and unpredictable behaviour.

Downey Jr. and Galifianakis may not be Steve Martin and John Candy, but nonetheless still make for eminently watchable leads. Fighting and bonding over their crazily eventful journey, a spark burns between the colliding personalities of the duo of travellers. Punches are thrown, saliva is spat (at a dog wearing an e-collar) and cremated ashes are spilled, but the dynamism between the two differing dudes remains ever-present.

Iron Man star Downey Jr. plays an over-serious, heavily disgruntled, foul-mouthed father-to-be who is the straight man to Galifianakis' wise guy. Disturbed by his escort's more-than-wacky behaviour, Peter yearns to get as far away from him as humanely possible and closer to his soon-to-be-in-labour wife -- but cruel fate refuses to have it this way. Getting edgier and edgier with each passing second, the bad-tempered businessman tries to remain calm and collected, but ends up committing his own childish acts.

Galifianakis, star of It's Kind of a Funny Story, plays an empty-headed, round-bellied pig with a softly-toned voice that never stops yammering away, his beard almost as thick as the skull atop his fat neck. Blissfully unaware of the catastrophe he causes, Ethan creates havoc with every step and/or misstep he stupidly takes, intruding on Peter's personal space by constantly asking random questions. Like Peter, Ethan is trying to get somewhere, with Hollywood his destination while he attempts to find a place to scatter his father's ashes. Aawww.

As Peter's pregnant other half, Monaghan is largely forgettable, lost among the film's plethora of celebrity cameos. Cape Fear's Juliette Lewis plays a drug-dealer associate of Ethan; Tropic Thunder's Danny McBride has a brief appearance as a lazy Western Union employee; and Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx plays a close friend of Peter who may or may not be sleeping with his best bud's wife.

Director Todd Phillips (2009's hit The Hangover) keeps the film feeling fresh and hysterically demented, if a little bit recycled from the success of last year's aforementioned comedy. Working with three other screenwriters (Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland and Adam Sztykiel), Phillips has made Due Date a laugh-every-couple-of-minutes victory that only has a few tired, old gags.

Due Date won't be hailed as a classic in years to come, but it's still a mostly hysterical slice of adventurous amusement. The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Galifianakis fuels what is a slightly deranged, sniggering bromance comedy with a masturbating dog and a dead dad in a coffee can. Harmless fun. Sort of.

7/10