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DUE DATE
US, 2010, 95 minutes, Colour.
Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis, Danny Mc Bride, RZA.
Directed by Todd Phillips.
Maybe the tagline for the advertising is enough of a review, ‘From the director of The Hangover’.
More than a year on, it is rather difficult to remember why The Hangover, despite its often crass approach, was so successful and so funny, a guilty pleasure. But, the tagline does set up some expectations.
Some of them are fulfilled. It is not as hilarious as some of the scenes in The Hangover were. It has its crass moments, of course, but they are not so numerous in fact and the main ones (about the oafish character and his dog’s behaviour) are continually referred to as crass and disgusting, so no one is trying to trick us – though the makers have obviously enjoyed including the sequence). This means that the comedy depends on whether you take to the characters well or not.
Watching the trailer (several times in the cinemas), one gets the impression that Robert Downey Jr plays an ordinary put-upon citizen who deserves sympathy as he has to deal with the aforesaid oaf, played in a manner comedy fans expect from Zach Galifaniakis– including The Hangover). The film is much more complicated than that and the better for it.
Downey’s architect, Peter, has a short fuse,(his wife (Michelle Monaghan) reminding him and us about his severe flying off the handle propensity. He is not as sympathetic as all that from the start – he actually deserves a bit of what he gets, and finally confesses to it as he ultimately learns his lessons. And Zach Galifinakis’s would-be actor, Ethan, is certainly dumb about many things but does have a heart. What he does is set up by the screenplay to be annoying to Peter and to us, but Ethan is not altogether unlikeable. Even though you wouldn’t want to share much of this journey with him if you found yourself in the same situation. It is Peter’s fault more than Ethan’s, when they find themselves on No Fly lists. They both want to get to LA, Ethan for an interview, Peter for the birth of his first child. (That is the due date.)
What happens is a lower-brow version of that very funny film of the 1980s, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, with Steve Martin and John Candy in exactly the same kinds of roles. So, we have crashes, motels, verbal interchanges, a side trip to Mexico and another to the Grand Canyon (this a nice one as Ethan has his recently deceased father’s ashes to scatter). Some help is gathered along the way from one of Peter’s best friends, played by Jamie Foxx.
Downey is such a good actor that he makes his character more real and credible than another actor might have. Galifaniakis looks like a bear on the loose but tends to behave less intelligently. But, when you see him do auditions, like reading Brando’s wedding day speech from The Godfather, and then play out some scenarios that Peter suggests, we realise that he is quite talented. Which means that the film has a happy ending, a nice baby, happy marriage and Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen being good sports in a playful spoof of Two and a Half Men (the show that inspired Ethan to want to go to Hollywood after he had managed a website on details of the show for six years).
And, if you were disappointed with Due Date, rest assured that they have finished filming The Hangover 2 (which even has a cameo from Bill Clinton!).
1. The tradition of American gross-out comedies? Style, content? This film in that genre? Adapted for a road film, the theme of planes, trains and automobiles?
2. American road movies, the US road, the variety of states and landscapes, the people? Vehicles, travel, the effect on people? Relationships? Accommodation, difficulties?
3. The opening in Atlanta, the typical American city? The contrast with the deserts, the Mexican border, the beauty of the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles?
4. The dialogue, the humour, the gross-out humour, drawing attention to itself? Characters, crass, wit and sentiment?
5. The introduction to Peter, Robert Downey Jr’s presence, an architect, highly strung, contact with his wife, her pregnancy, short fuse, the initial clash with Ethan, the taxi, his gross stomach, the luggage, at security, the short fuse again, being put on the ‘no fly’ list, meeting Ethan again, wary, accepting the invitation to travel?
6. The contrast with Ethan, his look, gross, hairy, fat, said his age was twenty-three? His story, his relationship with his father – and his laughing at Peter’s sad story about his father walking out? Admiration for his father, the bond, his death, travelling with the ashes – and the coffee can, the later jokes about the cup of coffee with Peter and Darryl? His website on Two and a Half Men, his acting hopes, going to Hollywood? Travelling with his dog, pampering his dog?
7. The contrast in manners, style, knowledge and ignorance, Peter uptight and professional, Ethan as the slob, the oaf, easygoing?
8. Ethan and his effect on Peter, the questions, the dog, the sexual behaviour, the intrusiveness, the waffles and his being sick, the toilet breaks, accident-prone, the cases, the lack of the wallet – and his later confessing to taking it? The motel, snoring, Peter going off?
9. Peter and his phone calls, his angers, the waffles incident, lack of sleep, the decision to leave, at the river, the effect of the ashes, his return – and later confessing?
10. Ethan, driving, his sleep, the devastation of the crash? The aftermath?
11. Darryl, his friendship, offering help, the discussions? Ethan and his suspicions about Darryl and Peter’s wife, the photos? The driving, Ethan in the back, bouncing him?
12. Peter’s concession to go to the Grand Canyon, the beauty, Darryl’s ignorance about its being man-made, the scattering of the ashes?
13. The movie references? The drugs, Heidi and her boyfriend? Peter and his exasperation (and the actual facts about Robert Downey and his drug-taking and rehabilitation)? Ethan and his audition of the Godfather speech? Peter making demands on him to act out situations, his seeming failure – but entering into them?
14. Peter, his change of heart, Mexico, the border, the police and their taking the drugs and using them, the chase, Peter and his injuries, the rescue?
15. The hurry to the hospital, through the Los Angeles streets, Ethan and his driving, Peter’s collapse, seeing the black baby? Ethan with the baby, naming the baby Rose?
16. The end, Peter and his wife watching Ethan on television, Two and a Half Men, the humour, the happy family? The popular ingredients for a popular comedy?