Due Date Film Review

Let me start by saying that while the initial commercials did not seem that great, I typically enjoy the antics of Zach Galifianakis (for the most part) and given Robert Downey Jr.’s recent spate of well-acted and entertaining films, I went into the theater with hopes that this would be on the level of Todd Phillips’ other movies, Old School and The Hangover. However, at one half-chuckle during the entirety of the 100 minute running time, Due Date has proven to be quite possibly the least funny “comedy” I’ve ever seen.

The film’s premise is that up-tight architect Peter Highman (Downey Jr.) needs to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles within a few days to be present for his wife’s C-section and the birth of his first child and this seemingly easy task is hindered by aspiring actor and all around boorish Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis). Ethan’s annoying eccentricities and Asperger’s-like inability to understand even basic social conventions cause both him and Peter to be ejected from their flight and Peter is subsequently forced to drive cross-country with this wreck of a human-being to beat his deadline.

The pairing is clearly intended to be the classic square/slob cliché, where the slob learns to be a bit more responsible and the square learns to loosen up, but the characters are so fundamentally unrelatable and the duo so lacking in chemistry that this dynamic devolves into both actors being complete assholes to each other for most of the film. Several celebrity cameos (RZA, Matt Walsh, Juliette Lewis, Danny McBride and Jamie Foxx) provide welcome relief from watching these two unlikeable douchebags, but they are brief asides and add little value or insight to the characters or plot. Jamie Foxx’s role as Peter’s good friend (and potential cuckolder) was particularly inscrutable as the idea of an affair is completely dropped after about 10 minutes and no character gives it further thought, barring one 2-second attempt at a gag towards the end of the film.

Without giving away too much more of the plot, this movie quite literally has all the elements of a hilarious film, without any kind of consistent or rational thread to join them together; it’s as if the writers spent a weekend watching every comedy they could get their hands on, picked their favorite scenes and then jammed them every which-way into a road-trip script. To his credit, Todd Phillips mostly shies away from his typical gross-out humor (although there is a prolonged shot of a dog masturbating) in favor of the awkward, uncomfortable-silence type of comedy seen in The Office, but the slapstick portions that balance out the mix quite frankly aren’t silly enough to be funny and actively detract from the mirth of the situation; instead of laughing that Ethan’s “wackiness” results in their car crashing, I’m wincing that their car has been completely flipped and destroyed, breaking Peter’s arm and injuring the dog sidekick.

I was particularly baffled by the movie’s blatant tie-in with Two and a Half Men, but given that I don’t find one iota of that sitcom funny to any degree, perhaps I’m just completely outside the intended audience of this entire enterprise.

TLDR: There’s only one joke the entire film and it’s on the audience.