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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 2/22/2011
Director: Todd Phillips
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Juliette Lewis, RZA
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
What do you do when you make a hit movie where a quirky supporting character stole the show? Pump out a sequel and give that quirky character a leading man spot. That's pretty much what happened when The Hangover made Zach Galifianakis a bit of a Hollywood 'it boy' and thus was born Due Date. The fact that Galifianakis is technically a different character in this movie doesn't really matter. The name may have been changed, but he's basically playing the same dude. Here he's teamed up with Robert Downey Jr. for a buddy/road movie that looked like a killer recipe for suck. Thankfully, however, Due Date was a pleasant surprise. No, it's not reinventing the wheel and yes it's extremely predictable but that doesn't diminish the fact that it's actually very funny. Director Todd Phillips sure has come a long way since filming G.G. Allin flinging poop at people.
When the film begins, a snooty architect named Peter Highman (Downey) is trying to board a plane to get home to his expecting wife in time to see their child born. Due to a luggage screw up with a random stranger named Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) he gets hassled when airport security finds a pipe in his bag. When an incident occurs on the plane itself, both he and Ethan are kicked off and added to the no fly list. Highman left his wallet onboard and has no money, no identification and no way to get home, except to accept the ride from the well meaning Ethan who is travelling with his irritating little dog and a coffee canister containing the ashes of his recently cremated father.
That's more or less the plot right there - two unlikely candidates, through even more unlikely twists of fate, wind up sharing a ride half way across the country. At first, as you could guess, high society man Peter can't stand eccentric Ethan, whose life's goal is to make it as an actor and appear on Two And A Half Men, but after they get to know one another and Ethan predictably proves himself to be a decent guy despite the fact that he's happy to masturbate in front of you, they start to get along.
It's isn't hard at all to see where this one is going or even how it will get there but thankfully the performances make this one work. Downey is great as the straight man, playing his part with just enough of a mean streak that you don't like him at first while Galifianakis, pretty much a wolf pack of one, is just unbelievably weird to the point that you can't really believe him as a real person, but you can laugh at his antics just the same. Supporting performances from a smug Jamie Foxx and an unlikely RZA (Wu-Tang!) are welcome additions to the cast, and some genuinely scenic travelogue footage, combined with a fun soundtrack, wrap the package up in a nice, neat bow.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Due Date looks very good in this VC-1 encoded 1080p 2.40.1 widescreen high definition transfer from Warner Brothers. Some of the scenes that take place out in the desert have been shot with the aperture wide open to let more light in and give those scenes a sort of sun baked appearance, so the color reproduction will reflect that stylistic choice. Otherwise, colors really look great here while skin tones always look nice and natural. Detail is uniformly excellent throughout the presentation, not just in close up shots where you expect it to be but also in medium and long distance shots as well. Texture is strong throughout, you can make out the fine lines of the goofy little dog's fur quite easily for example, while black levels are strong and deep showing only minor crush in a few spots. Overall things shape up really well here.
The primary mix is an English language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, though standard definition Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound options are offered in English, French and Spanish with optional subtitles provided in all three languages as well. The TrueHD track sounds very good, offering up crisp and clear dialogue amidst all the ensuing chaos that the film inevitably gets into. The soundtrack, made up of an eclectic mix of music featuring everything from The Neil Young to the Cowboy Junkies to Ice Cube, is clean and clear and well mixed into the film so that it accentuates what it needs to. Sound effects are punchy without sounding over done while the periodic action scenes show strong channel separation. There's a lot of good rear channel activity throughout the film, from the casino scenes to the shoot outs, and even during the quieter moments there's some welcome ambient effects to listen for. Things do tend to be a bit front heavy a few times but that's not much of a complaint, really. This movie does sound very good.
There aren't a ton of extra features here but the four minutes worth of deleted scenes are amusing enough. The Gag Reel features seven minutes worth of outtakes while the Action Mashup and Too Many Questions Mashup are just highlight reels of clips from the movie itself and add nothing to the package. The best extra is the complete "Two and a Half Men" Sequence featuring Ethan Tremblay, a three minute clip of his supposed appearance on his favorite TV show of all time. Aside from that, there are menus and chapter stops and previews for a few other Warner properties that play before you get to the main menu screen. All of the extras are in high definition, which is nice, but it's surprisingly how little extra content was included here.
The Final Word:
Due Date might not be a film that you return to over and over and over again but it's definitely entertaining and funny enough that, despite its predictability, it's worth seeing once. WB's Blu-ray release looks and sounds superb, which helps to make up for the skimpy extra features, but overall this was enough fun to warrant a recommendation.
Then he smoked a "J" on national television (OK, so it was Bill Maher and not one of the three big networks, but still) and his street cred superceded all such notions.
I think he should be a guest judge on shows like TOP CHEF, how funny would that be?