Due Date

“Due Date”

Due Date is a comedy that is directed by Todd Philips. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Peter Highman along side Zach Galifianakis who plays Ethan Trembley/Chase. This movie also includes Jaime Foxx, Michelle Monaghan and Danny McBride.

After being kicked off an airplane and losing his wallet, Peter Highman must find a way to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles before the birth of his first child.  Ethan Trembley, an aspiring actor and the reason Highman got kicked off the airplane, offers Highman a ride to Los Angeles, and Highman unfortunately has no other choice but to accept. What Highman doesn’t know is that he is in for the craziest roadtrip of his life. As soon as the trip starts Trembley unleashes a question asking assault on Highman. Then Trembley has to buy marijuana for medical reasons but he spends close to all of his money render them virtually no way to buy enough gas to reach Los Angeles. Highman calls his wife Sarah, played by Michelle Monaghan, to wire Ethan money but she wires it to Ethan’s stage name instead of his real name Ethan Chase. After Trembley almost gets left at a rest area on purpose by Highman the two continue driving until Trembley falls asleep behind the wheel and epically crashes the rental car nearly killing the both of them. Highman then has his friend Daryl, played by Jaime Foxx, pick him up from the hospital with no intention of continuing the trip with Trembley, but Daryl convinces him to allow Trembley to come with them. So after a quick visit to Daryl’s house, Highman and Trembley continue heading towards Los Angeles with everything between the two of them beginning to get better until Trembley smokes his marijuana while Highman is sleeping and accidently attempts to drive into Mexico. Trembley flees from the car but Highman gets detained because there is illegal marijuana in the car. Ethan now has the obstacle of sneaking Peter out of the boarder patrol’s custody so they can stay on schedule to make it on time to the birth of Peter’s child.

I have mixed feelings about the acting in this movie. On one hand I like Robert Downey Jr. and I thought his acting was the best thing about this movie, but on the other I didn’t really like Zach Galifianakis’ performance in it too much. Admittedly I’m not the biggest Zach Galifianakis fan in the world since I think he has to try to be funny instead of being naturally funny but I liked his performance a whole lot better in “The Hangover”. As much as I don’t want to compare an actor’s performance in one movie to another I will. In “The Hangover” I liked Galifianakis’ performance because at the time it was unique and different, but I didn’t like his performance in Due Date because it’s virtually the same character in both movies instead of something unique.

My overall take on this movie is that it is alright movie. As a comedy it’s mildy funny and has a decent plot with some well known actors, and this would be a movie that I would like to go see again.