Saturday, December 11, 2010

Due Date **1/2

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx and Michelle Monaghan

Rated R (for language, drug use and sexual content)

Directed by Todd Phillips

Screenplay by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel and Todd Phillips

* * 1/2

A Wild Ride


LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 03: Actor Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis attend the 'Due Date' Premiere at The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square on November 3, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
With any comedy where the main character is shadowed by a wildly annoying person, there is a fine line between irritating moviegoers and making them laugh. “Due Date” walks the line alright. It has its wobbly moments, but overall accomplishes the feat of balancing the crazy with the funny.

This is mostly due to Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.
They are compelling separately, but together create such an odd couple, hard to look away from. When the storyline is based almost solely on two characters, they’d better be compelling!

Downey is Peter Highman, a straight-laced businessman with a temper and Galifianakis is Ethan Tremblay/Chase, a wanna-be actor, whose idiosyncrasies keep him from fitting into any one mold.

From the moment Ethan crashes into his life, he causes Peter nothing but trouble upon trouble upon trouble. All Peter cares about is getting home to LA in time to see his wife give birth to their first child. An unfortunate turn of events (i.e. Ethan) leaves him without any transportation across the country. Ethan and his dog Sonny are Peter's only hope to get back to his wife.

Ethan’s wackiness, plus his childish and at times, uncouth behavior, would drive any person out of their right mind. Despite this, he does have a heart and the “serious” moments of the film are carried off as well as they are because of the dead-on acting skills of Downey and Galifianakis.

Watch it for a good laugh.
Watch it to see an unlikely pair mix together rather well. Just don’t expect anything less than total insanity and ridiculousness!

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