Skip This: Due Date

Movie Poster for Due Date

So it was another night, another movie I was not sure I wanted to watch, and another couple of hours of my life I wish I could get back. I'll have to admit that when I first watched the theatrical trailer for this movie, I was pretty sure I would not like it, because I could already tell that Zach Galigianakis was going to play the exact same character role he did in the Hangover while Robert Downey Jr played the same character role he is known for. Add on top of that some jokes that just are not really that funny nor interesting, and I figured that was the movie. Still, I had nothing to do that night and I needed to pass the time, so I turned on Due Date with no care towards what might actually be seen and now I wish I could get my time back. If you are curious and want to know why I do not recommend this movie, then please continue reading my full review of Due Date.

Due Date [2010]

Have you ever seen the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy? Well many would argue that is a classic film about two completely different men trying to get to their homes before Christmas. And although I did not find that movie to be funny, I still think there is a classical value to it.

The movie Due Date tries to mimic that same style of humor by thrusting two men that are nothing alike together and telling them to get across the country before a big moment in one of their lives. For this movie, Robert Downey Jr's character is about to have a baby with his wife, but he is stuck all the way across the country. Due to a mix-up at the airport with Zach Galifianakis' character, several problems happen and he gets thrown off the plane and onto the no fly list. So does Zach Galifianakis. From there, the rest of the movie is about these two men traveling by car across the country to get to Las Angeles.

Theatrical Trailer for Due Date

It was terrible and I say that with the highest respect for both Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis. You see, they both have pitch perfect acting as they played their role, but the fact is that the roles they played were the same ones we have seen time and time again in other movies. What this movie proved is that combining the two in a car does not make it funny, and it actually does not amplify either character. Instead, it makes Robert Downey Jr seem like a total asshole the whole way through the movie and Zach Galifianakis seem like a really retarded kid that probably would not have lived this long based on how stupid he is. And some people with brain damage might actually find that entertaining, but for me I found it to be rather retarded and annoying the whole way.

Beyond that, the whole plot idea behind the movie is stupid. Robert Downey Jr needs to get home to see his first child being born? Get a video instead of getting into a car with a crazy man. But wait, let us back up a bit farther. I felt that the whole reason the two of them end up in a car was rather stupid, I felt that the way they portrayed TSA was inaccurate, and I felt that the way the handled the whole plane scene was rather annoying. Combine all of those and you have a bad start to a movie, but that does not stop me from continuing on and wasting my life. Nope, instead we watch how a car gets completely wrecked right after Robert Downey Jr had the opportunity to just leave him there, and you really start to question the writers of this movie at that point. I would have rather hitch hiked the rest of the way home than get in a car with someone as bad luck as Zach Galifianakis' character. So I was annoyed about half way through.

But let me back-up even farther. The name of this movie sucks and should have been rewritten immediately. I am really sorry that I have to rip a new one for the writers, but Due Date sounds like a middle school movie for kids, or a movie about a venture capitalist who has some sort of due date or else the company is shutting down. It does not sound like a movie about a woman who is timing when she is going to be pregnant and then have a baby. Hell, you could even take a note from the guys at the Hangover and just call this movie the Caesarean Section and that would have been a better name. First of all, at least that inspires people to go look up what a Caesarean Section is if they do not know. Second, it removes all the other implications that came come with Due Date. Last, I think it would have made you realize just how stupid the reasoning for them trying to get across the country really is. Just reschedule the damn caesarean section.

Anyway, the second half of the movie is pretty standard and expected. Everything you think is going to happen will happen, everything you already knew is proven, and then it ends. I thought this movie was plain bad. Skip it.

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