Due Date

            Due Date is a 2010 comedy directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School) and stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) as Peter Highman, and Zack Galifianakis (The Hangover) as Ethan Tremblay.

            The film is about a Peter (Downey Jr.) as he journeys home to his pregnant wife who is going to have a C-Section delivery when he gets home.  However, while on the plane to Los Angeles, Peter meets Ethan and as a result of Ethan's behavior gets the two kicked off of the plane and put on the "No Fly" list by NSA.  Unfortunately for Peter, he was not able to grab his wallet off of the plane as he was being kicked off.  Stranded with no money, identification, or credit cards, Peter decides to take up Ethan on an offer to drive him home to Los Angeles.  Peter then embarks on a journey home that gets him into even more trouble than he ever could have imagined.

            The film is probably director Todd Phillips' strongest feature yet.  However, it is not his funniest film.  The production has a pretty solid story that follows the proper formulas of your usual "Golden Fleece" and "Buddy Love" pictures.  At times it does seem to get a little out of hand, but manages to do it in a way to where the audience laughs rather than rolls their eyes.  The problem that I fear most viewers are going to have with this feature is that they are going to expect it to be as funny as Phillips' previous film The Hangover.  As I mentioned earlier, this film is definitely not his strongest comedy piece, but has a stronger story, stronger acting, and better directing that makes it a better film.

            As mentioned, the acting in the film is very solid.  However, the best performance in the film surprisingly is not Robert Downey Jr.  I was very surprised to see just how wide actor Zack Galifianakis' range really is.  Two of the strongest dramatic scenes in the film are performed by Zack Galifianakis and makes this roll a huge step up for his reputation as a strong actor.  With that said, I also found it very interesting that the funniest moments in the film are performed by Robert Downey Jr.  Downey Jr. has always been funny in many of his previous comedic roles, but part of me feels that this was his best comedic performance.

            Overall the film was really enjoyable.  It showed some very strong performances by the two lead actors and some great directing from Todd Phillips.  There is a particular dramatic scene in the film that features a great performance by Zack Galifianakis that directors can only dream of getting out of their actors most of the time.  Overall, a solid film.