I've never been a fan of road trips. Having grown up in Minnesota when the rest of my extended family lived in (and still lives in) Illinois, once or twice a year my parents, sisters and I would take an eight-hour trek southeast to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and whatever other numerous relatives we had. Though I was always certainly excited to see them, I always dreaded the drive itself. Most who know me agree that I'm naturally impatient, and despite having the convenience of Game Boys and comic books back then, the ride still seemed to go on forever.
But it was always fortunate that, for a third of a day, I was in a car with people who didn't (completely) annoy me. And to this day, I wonder if I could truly ever survive a road trip for a long amount of time with someone who bothered the holy bejeezus out of me, without the risk of me throttling them halfway through the journey.
It's that familiar concept that drives director Todd Phillips' raucous comedy Due Date, a buddy road flick that fails to completely match the comedic anarchy of Phillips' previous The Hangover, but still manages to stay afloat thanks to the terrific chemistry between its two lead actors.
Architect and expectant father Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) arrives at an Atlanta airport to fly home to Los Angeles and be with his pregnant wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), who's set to give birth via a C-section a few days later. Sitting behind him on the plane is Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), an unkempt and bizarre aspiring actor who immediately gets on the high-strung Peter's nerves. An onboard misunderstanding caused by Ethan gets both men kicked off the plane and placed on the TSA's no-fly list.
Making matters worse is that Peter's wallet (including his credit cards and identification) was left on the plane, leaving him stranded in Georgia and far away from his wife. An exasperated Peter is forced to hitch a cross-country ride with Ethan to California, and along the way they encounter Ethan's drug dealer Heidi (Juliette Lewis), a short-tempered and wheelchair-bound war veteran (Danny McBride), the Mexican border patrol, and, in Texas, Peter's friend Darryl (Jamie Foxx), a famous athlete who arouses suspicion that he may or may not be the real father of Sarah's child. It takes all the strength Peter has to tolerate Ethan's goofball antics as the two race against time to make it to the birth of Peter's baby.
Hot off the astronomical success of The Hangover, director Phillips went back into the wild comedy well that served him well in the past (he also directed Road Trip and Old School), but despite his considerable talent as a filmmaker, the biggest flaw of Due Date is that it doesn't add much novelty to the whole comedy road trip concept, where the protagonists encounter various oddballs on the road and eventually clash with each other. The genre having been considerably mined by films like Dumb & Dumber, Cannonball Run, National Lampoon's Vacation, and of course the great Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the proceedings here aren't that terribly original.
But like the aforementioned Steve Martin/John Candy classic, the true star and saving grace here is the pairing of the lead Odd Couple, this time personified by Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. Downey, still on fire since his 2008 comeback to Hollywood's good graces with Iron Man, is fabulous as the ill-tempered, uptight, and somewhat volatile father-to-be who encounters one massive inconvenience after another. Downey blends in perfectly, once again proving that he's one of the finest and most versatile actors of his generation.
Playing his comic foil is a wonderful Galifianakis essentially replaying the role that (deservedly) garnered him mainstream attention in Phillips' previous The Hangover. As a sweet-natured yet utterly bizarre and childlike buffoon who dreams of making it big in Hollywood, Galifianakis manages to avoid being one-note by endearing himself to both the audience and (eventually) Downey's character. The two characters' personalities clash like oil and water, delivering some rather funny comedic setpieces, and there's even more emotional heft involved in Due Date than Hangover, especially in a surprisingly touching scene atop the Grand Canyon involving Ethan and his father's ashes.
Because this is Downey and Galifianakis' show, the rest of the relatively small cast doesn't have much to do. Monaghan's wife character is barely there (proving once again that Phillips doesn't know how to really flesh out his female characters), and Downey's The Soloist co-star Jamie Foxx abruptly appears halfway through the film, and then isn't seen again five minutes afterwards, which is all the more disappointing considering that the whole "who's the baby's father" subplot had more potential than it actually utilized. Lewis' cameo as a skanky pot dealer is slightly amusing but is ultimately forgettable (though an encounter between her character's son and Downey is shockingly hilarious).
Though just as potty-mouthed and destructive, Due Date doesn't match the amount of rapid-fire belly laughs that The Hangover so effortlessly delivered. There are laughs to be had, but the film ultimately falters because it can't do anything new with the conventions of that great cinematic genre, the road film. But thanks to the entertaining performances of its leads, Due Date can be a great distraction for backseat prisoners during one of those dreadful hauls on the highway.
Letter Grade: "C+"
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