Due Date is part Meet the Parents, with the well-intentioned guy constantly getting misunderstood and given a bad time. It's part Planes, Trains & Automobiles, in which an unlikely duo pairs up and embarks on cross-country antics. It's part Dinner for Schmucks, this past summer's bomb in which a businessman and an idiot inadvertently become best friends.
Sometimes it's beneficial for a movie to be influenced by other films. But Due Date comes off as lazy, uninspired and, most of all, flat-out boring - especially because the two headliners all but phoned in their performances. Robert Downey, Jr. plays Peter Highman, a successful architect trying to get home to Los Angeles from Atlanta for the birth of his first child. He's a quick-witted smart aleck with money and style - essentially, Tony Stark sans the Iron Man costume. Zach Galifianakis is Ethan Tremblay, an eccentric loser also leaving for L.A. in hopes of becoming a famous actor on Two and a Half Men. He's the same lovable fool from The Hangover, except in this film he carries around a pug instead of a baby.
After an accidental altercation on their flight out of Georgia - they utter the words "bomb" and "terrorist" ... Cue Meet the Parents - both Peter and Ethan are placed on no-fly lists. Moreover, Peter left his wallet on the plane, so he can't even rent a car. Looks like it's time for a road trip with Ethan and the dog.
Of course, that result was probably predictable after the flick's first five minutes, when the two get into a minor car wreck at the airport terminal. That's the nature of Due Date: it's painfully unsurprising. More car accidents! Escapes from the law! Barely making it to the hospital in time for the birth! Who would have guessed? Like several Hollywood films nowadays, the subpar screenplay and lack of invention are covered up with loud, brash action scenes.
It's a shame that the story from Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland (King of the Hill) is so drab because Galifianakis and Downey, Jr. have undeniable chemistry. They're two of the most charismatic actors around at the moment. But then that's pointless if you have Downey, Jr. saying atrocious lines like, "If I miss the birth of my child, I'm going to choke you with your own scarf." That was No. 6 on Associated Content's top 10 funniest lines from the film, by the way.
Michelle Monaghan, who charmed in The Heartbreak Kid and thrilled in Mission: Impossible III, is limp as a scarf while playing Peter's pregnant wife Sarah. She's certainly not likable, yet she's not even mean, testy or snarky enough to stand out. She's just there for the sake of being there - another unfortunate waste of talent. Jamie Foxx, in a bizarre role as Peter's friend - and potentially the baby daddy of Peter and Sarah's unborn child - is unbearably out-of-place. The guy hasn't had a decent part since his award-winning turn in Ray, and his bad string continues here.
Like Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis in Cop Out, Will Forte and Ryan Phillippe in MacGruber, or Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys, this film is a failed attempt at trying to pair up funny, funny guys with established actors who aren't known for flexing their comic chops. Due Date, while having the most potential, ultimately failed because it just wasn't memorable enough.
Perhaps I'm a cynic. Many members of the audience in my theater were howling with laughter. But even though many of them were crying with laughter, all of the explosions and the crashes and the gunshots didn't mask the fact that I was bored to tears. I will say one thing, though.
The soundtrack delivered.
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