Entering the cinemas to watch 'Due Date', I was both excited and a little cautious. The excitement was because from the second I heard that Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis were teaming up for a comedy road-trip with the director of the 'The Hangover' at the helm I thought "This is gonna be good!" However, early critical reviews have been, well, critical. Rotten Tomatoes highlights the mediocre response by stating that is was "only intermittently funny and not as good as its stars and director suggested it could be." So let's say I was prepared for disappointment.
Post viewing, I walked out of the cinemas with a big smile on my face. I am largely in disagreement with the overall opinion, and if you enjoyed movies such as 'The Hangover' or any Steve Carell, Will Ferell esc. movie of the last few years, you won't be disappointed. In fact you should come out saying that it is a lot better than most of the movies that 'Due Date' is competing with. It's right up there alongside 'Hot Tub Time Machine' as best comedy of 2010.
Don't get me wrong, this movie is no 'The Hangover'. Last years barn-storming hit was a rip-roaring riot of a film. That had a bunch of upcoming comedy actors,(Ed Helms and 'Due Date's' Zach Galifianakis being the main people who shone)that never let up the pace of humor and action. That was something that 'Due Date' cannot compete with. It wasn't trying to, it's a totally different film. This is a road trip, and it has a different type of comedic actor in Robert Downey Jr.
RDJ's Peter is sardonic, dry and dark, and boy, does he make 'Due Date' dark at times. He is not your classic comedy hero. For the entire running time he's full of anger, and he has some serious problems that include punching a kid in the stomach and nearly throttling his co-star (Galifianakis' Ethan). Times like this treaded the dangerous line that a comedy character should go too, and I began to wonder whether his wife (played by Michelle Monaghan) would want this man near her child if she could see him. But as always RDJ is a man of so many talents that he always manages to rein you back onto Peter's side, and stick with a character who at times you feel you shouldn't.
A couple of scenes, one in the bathroom of a roadside and then the other under a shelter as the rain falls about forty minutes into the film are some of the highlights, and they didn't have a single laugh. They were about drawing you into both Peter and Ethan's characters and let you feel that these guys are good enough at heart to go along with, where ever they go.
Importantly though, this movie is still very, very funny. Scenes such as escaping from the Mexican Border, an encounter in a 'Waffle House' and most of the expository scenes between Peter and Ethan had the audience in stitches. However, some scenes worked less well. Cameos from Juliette Lewis and Jamie Foxx got in the way and slowed the pace, jarring the Downey Jr/ Galifianakis relationship and the movie felt in a lull at these points.
But all in all, as Peter and Ethan's journey reached the obvious conclusion, I was cheering them on all the way. I can strongly recommend you give 'Due Date' a whirl, and I advice you to see it at the movies where you can be a part of the atmosphere that a big audience creates.
So it should be a Date then...
7.5/10
Adam
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