The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
WFNX_1000x50g

Review: Due Date

Phillips, Downey, Galifianakis just barely deliver
By TOM MEEK  |  November 2, 2010
2.5 2.5 Stars

 

Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover) has made a career out of male-bonding road trips fueled by sophomoric indecency, and Due Date is more of the same. It even features Zach Galifianakis as a misguided manchild. Here his Ethan Tremblay is an aspiring actor heading to LA to make it — but as Ethan is boarding the plane, an altercation with Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.), a strait-laced architect heading home for the birth of his son (thus the title), lands the two on the "no fly" list. So now they have to share a car to cross the country. Planes, Trains and Automobiles it isn't. Ethan jerks off as a bedtime ritual, and he keeps an annoying French bulldog in a man purse. What's more, the reluctant-buddy arc and the ensuing chaos don't always jell. The film scores best when resident weirdos Heidi (Juliette Lewis as a drug-dealing mom) and Lonnie (Danny McBride as a hick cashier) size up the pair. It ain't old-school Todd Phillips, but it is Todd Phillips.

Related: Review: Dinner for Schmucks, Review: You Again, Interview: Zach Galifianakis, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Movies, Zach Galifianakis, comedy,  More more >
| More

ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: GOD BLESS AMERICA  |  May 17, 2012
    The latest dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait tackles both vapid celebrity culture ( i.e. , Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, and American Idol ) and the indignity of being an office drone.
  •   REVIEW: THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS  |  April 24, 2012
    Peter Lord, animator behind claymation staples Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run , directs this very British, very dry romp on the high seas during the time when Britannia did indeed rule the waves.
  •   REVIEW: GOD BLESS AMERICA  |  April 18, 2012
    The latest dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait tackles both vapid celebrity culture (i.e., Paris Hilton, the Kardashians and American Idol) and the indignity of being an office drone.
  •   REVIEW: UNDEFEATED  |  March 15, 2012
    Dan Lindsay and T. J. Martin's Oscar-winning documentary about an underequipped high-school football team competing against big-time programs across Tennessee offers a potent contemplation on race and opportunity.
  •   REVIEW: DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX  |  March 01, 2012
    Regrettably, this team loses a lot of Seuss's quirkiness, though not the message about corporate greed and slash-and-burn imperialism.

 See all articles by: TOM MEEK



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2012 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group