Writer: Alan R Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel, Todd Phillips
Director: Todd Phillips
Notable Actors: Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, a dog. No, really, a dog.
Director: Todd Phillips
Notable Actors: Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, a dog. No, really, a dog.
Have you seen Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Yes? Congratulations, you’re either over thirty or were raised by film fans. Whenever Due Date has come up in conversation in the past few months, I, along with many others, have immediately dismissed it as a blatant remake of PTA. The need for the ‘remake’, sadly, became obvious – very few of my generation have recognition light their eyes at the name of John Candy.
I had the lowest expectations for this film. I figured it would be everything I loathe in a movie, and it was. I went to see it, despite my better judgements, due to the presence of Robert Downey Jr., who I’ve been a big fan of since I saw Chaplin at the age of eight. His presence did not warm me to the story, however. In fact, it made me ever more suspicious; could anything else signal so obviously that this was nothing more than a paycheck movie?
Robert Downey is the closest thing, in my opinion, to a classic theatre star in modern movies. No matter what crap he’s in or (was) on, his performances have never been anything less than stellar. Every now and then, such as with Tropic Thunder, no matter what you think of the movie, the performance is breathtaking; and although he may get to pull some pretty good faces here, Due Date is a long way off from one of those films.
What Due Date does, and surprisingly well at that, is its job. It’s the first American comedy I’ve ever seen in a cinema which has made me laugh. That’s not to say America doesn’t churn out great comedies. It does. But all too often they’re impossible to find indie films you watch on your own at 2am. Due Date, so unlike its seeming bedfellow Pineapple Express, is consistently funny, right up to the final scene, which, despite its predictability, had me doubled over.
Yeah, it’s either/or a paycheck/favour movie for all of its cast, but if a pompous cynic like me can laugh at an overly-long shot of a dog masturbating, then the job is done. If you want to go out on a night and watch something which makes you care about what happens to the characters, then this isn't for you. But if all you're looking for is a lot of laughs with your mates in the cinema, then Due Date is perfect. I will, however, predict this will bomb once on DVD. I just don't see it doing well once in the retrospective domain.
It's also true that in twenty years you won’t be able to rewatch Due Date with your eight-year-old like my old man did with me and PTA, but Due Date wasn't made to last. No film of this early-21st-century-where-smoking-weed-is-normalised genre is. But it gives all the laughs its got and even has a couple professional actors thrown in to boot. Overall there's the impression that Due Date doesn't really know what it is, but hey, it's a Soloist Reunion. Let's not complain.
It's also true that in twenty years you won’t be able to rewatch Due Date with your eight-year-old like my old man did with me and PTA, but Due Date wasn't made to last. No film of this early-21st-century-where-smoking-weed-is-normalised genre is. But it gives all the laughs its got and even has a couple professional actors thrown in to boot. Overall there's the impression that Due Date doesn't really know what it is, but hey, it's a Soloist Reunion. Let's not complain.
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