Due Date
Becoming a father is stressful, but when you add a crazy road trip it’s bound to be mind blowing. Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr) is a traveling man who is on his way back home to his expectant wife in California. After becoming frustrated with fellow passenger Ethan (Zach Galifianakis), and exchanging words he finds himself thrown off the plane and placed on the no-fly list. Not only can he not fly home but also he is having trouble finding his wallet, which makes it impossible to return home by any other means.
Ethan turns out to be the helping hand Peter needs when he is in a rush to get home. The help is not what Peter expects when he finds that Ethan has many issues that include pot smoking for his “illness”, carrying his father’s ashes in a coffee tin and his interesting line of work. Peter and Ethan run into many roadblocks that only delay their return home, but the time allows the two to become friends.
When the call comes in for Peter that his wife has gone into labor earlier then expected he must speed to the hospital. Which is exactly what he does, but can he make it in time with the help of his peculiar friend? “Due Date” is a crazy bromance film that is a wild road trip. It is no “Hangover” but it has some laugh out loud moments. Galifianakis and Downey have great chemistry. The only disappointment is the scenes that become redundant at times. With a strange sense of ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’, but missing the magic, this one would be a great buddy film!
I tend to agree with you that this movie could have been a perfect mirror of P,T and A had the 2 had more chemistry and more general magic in the plot and its execution. But didn’t you honestly feel bad for Zach G. with a lot of Downey’s meanspirited banter and general dislike for a borderline autistic Zach? When people act dense, it’s funny but when it’s apparent that something is legitimately wrong with him (and how could you not feel terrible that he was so desperate for a friend that he stole Downey’s wallet and lived on a few bucks for days just to have a companion?), it’s just not funny.