Due Date

Were the filmmakers behind Due Date just a little more honest with themselves, they could have sold this movie as a remake of the 1987 classic road trip comedy, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The reason for the journey has changed, but the characters, and even a couple of the circumstances they get into while on the road will bring back memories to anyone who has seen the John Hughes film. When a movie simply makes you wish you were watching a different but similar movie, it's not doing its job right.

Just like in the '87 version, we have an odd couple who normally wouldn't be caught dead together, but fate keeps on forcing them to travel and help each other out during a difficult and slapstick-filled cross country journey. Also like before, our two travelers are comprised of a skinny, stuffy, uptight businessman, and an overweight man-child who can be crude and obnoxious, but really does have a good heart underneath. Robert Downey, Jr fills the uptight businessman role, the part filled by Steve Martin in the earlier film. Where the movie makes a miscalculation is putting Zach Galifiankis in the role previously played by the late John Candy. He's too good at at being crude and obnoxious, and doesn't go far enough at proving he really does have a good heart underneath. That's where Candy excelled, and made the earlier movie so memorable. Yes, he could be overbearing, but there was a sweetness to the character and a desire to be liked. The way Galifiankis plays the role, he's just an oddball looking for some characterization to latch onto.

The event that brings the two characters together this time around is that Peter Highman (Downey, Jr) has to make it cross country to get to his pregnant wife (Michelle Monaghan in a thankless role), as she's due to deliver any day now. His first run-in with the obnoxious Ethan Tremblay (Galifiankis) is at the airport, when Ethan's truck knocks off the door of Peter's town car. The two are then paired together on the flight to L.A., where through a series of contrivances, Ethan ends up getting Peter mistaken for a terrorist and put on the "no fly list". Peter is literally grounded, and can't rent a car, since his wallet's in his bag on the flight he was kicked off of. Ethan manages to rent a car, however, and offers to drive Peter home in time for the blessed event. This serves as a suitable enough excuse to get the two on the road together, but the journey they take just isn't as fresh or as funny as it could or should be.

Oh, there are certainly some laughs to be had. Ethan is headed to L.A. to become an actor, and the movie gets some good mileage out of his "head shots", portraying him as different character types or historical figures, like Malcolm X. There are also some stops along the way for colorful characters like Peter's best friend (Jamie Foxx), who may or may not have had an affair with Peter's wife, an angry handicapped Western Union employee, and an offbeat pot dealer (Juliette Lewis). The movie also gets some big laughs with Ethan's dog, who has picked up the unfortunate habit of imitating its owner when he masturbates. But these seem like stand-alone sketches. They never build into a cohesive narrative. There's a run-in with some Mexican border guards that seems particularly pointless, as if director Todd Phillips (The Hangover) knew he needed to throw in a big, elaborate action/chase sequence at some point in the film.

The problem lies with the two main characters in the middle of it all. I just didn't like them. Peter never softens up enough so that we can truly sympathize with him, and Ethan is just annoying. His subplot about wanting to scatter his dad's ashes at the Grand Canyon seems like a tacked-on and unnecessary attempt at building connection with a character who hasn't earned it. I hate to do it, but I must once again bring up the John Hughes film that most likely inspired this screenplay. In the earlier film, John Candy played a man who so desperately wanted to be liked and needed a friend, that he tried so hard to the point that he drove people away. But we could see the loneliness and the good within the character. He earned our interest. Ethan, on the other hand, comes across as a weirdo dreamed up by a Hollywood writer (four writers in this case, including director Phillips). He does things simply to be annoying or crude. He does not earn our interest, and we have no idea why Peter would stick with him.

Due Date is too genial to be offensive. It just never builds, and never makes us forget that we've seen it all done before in a much better movie. It also never reaches the flat-out hilarity or intensity of The Hangover, the last teaming of Phillips and Galifiankis. Few films could, really. But Due Date just doesn't try hard enough.

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