Due Date Review

• 8th Nov 2010

Two guys stuck on the road together acting antagonistically towards each other. One, Peter (Downey Jr) the wealthy uptight sort, the other Ethan (Galifianakis), bearded, scruffy, messy and very low rent. Yes it is Planes, Trains and Automobiles for the current generation! And what better people to bring this to you than the people who brought you The Hangover.

The premise is thin, but one that works well in comedy if you get the right two guys to work off each other. Here the point of urgency is to get Downey Jr to the birth of his child. Obviously his road buddy is going to by default screw a lot of things up along the way (expect lots of trouble with the authorities, credit cards, car crashes and drugs!)

The bromance in the air is fairly predictable with the right level of humour you would expect but it surprisingly works. Then with Downey Jr being the man that never fails to perform and up and coming Galifianakis, it makes for such a workable duo. It will work though on whether Ethan comes off as loveable or just slobbishly annoying.

Director, Todd Phillips knows his comedy and usually managed to bring in unexpected moments of comedy genius, but also manages to raise some dramatic levity for the characters. There are also some welcome appearances from Juliette Lewis and Jamie Foxx along the dastardly way as they make their wacky race across the states.

Steven Hurst