By Carlos Serrano
From director Todd Phillips (“The Hangover”) comes “Due Date,” a film that manages to be hilarious without losing the humanity of its actors.
The film stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis as Peter Highman and Ethan Tremblay. Peter, a nervous father-to-be, is on a plane back to L.A. for the birth of his child, when he is kicked off the plane after Ethan makes everyone believe Peter’s cell phone is an explosive device.
Put on the No Fly List because of the incident and with his wallet still on the plane, Peter is forced to accept a ride from Ethan, who is also traveling to L.A. to make it big as an actor. Along the way, they get into appropriately (or inappropriately as the case may be) hilarious situations.
Point blank, this movie is great. The acting is top notch and everyone in it is in top form, especially the two stars. Robert Downey, Jr. is great as the quick to anger Peter, and Galifianakis plays the role of an irresponsible, immature man amazingly well.
You also get a great supporting cast like Juliette Lewis (“Old School”) as Heidi, a pot dealing mother of two, and Danny McBride (“Pineapple Express”) as Lonnie, a handicapped Western Union attendant with a big attitude problem.
The scenes themselves are great. Peter and Ethan’s interactions drive a lot of the first half of the movie. The disparity between these two extremely different personalities makes for great comedy and a lot of laughter. Admittedly, some of the scenes can be a little cringe worthy if you are overly empathic, like the airplane scene that gets the ball rolling. As someone who is overly empathic himself however, those moments are few and far between and do give way to comedy.
The most enjoyable part of the movie is that it was not afraid to show heart. It would have been very easy to reduce the two main characters to stereotypes, but this movie goes beyond that. The scenes where Ethan displays very human emotion especially are a tug at your heartstrings and serve to make the character more than just an annoyance. Not to mention it’s a great way to get a breather in between the laughter.
The acting is solid, the comedy brings the laughs, and it doesn’t settle for easy stereotypes. It’s the perfect movie to go see with a group of friends to have a great time.
“Due Date” is rated R, has a run time of 100 minutes and is playing at Trademark Cinemas Victory Square Stadium 9 at 12:10 p.m., 2:20 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:20 p.m. and 9:50 p.m.
