Comfortably dumb

Director Todd Phillips is proving to be a one-trick pony. After the laugh-laden road-trip buddy movies Road Trip (2000) and The Hangover (2009), which shined in moments of oddball humor that raised each film - just barely - above the asinine (Mike Tyson singing along to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight," anyone?), the director has returned with Due Date, which begins in promising, if derivative territory, but soon takes a U-turn into the crude and absurd.

In a premise that will be familiar to anyone who has seen John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Robert Downey Jr. stars as Peter, a stressed-out, granite-chinned architect who needs to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles before his wife gives birth to their first child. Phillips' favorite sidekick, Zach Galifianakis, plays Ethan, the insufferable yet sensitive simp who will get Peter to his destination with a few minor disasters along the way.

The film opens as Peter is on his way to the airport to catch a flight home to L.A. Exiting his cab, Peter is involved in a minor fender bender with Ethan, and the two accidentally switch bags in the confusion. Peter doesn't notice the mistake until he attempts to check his bags and is hassled by a particularly unfriendly baggage handler (played, naturally, by RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame).

Exasperated at finding Ethan on the same flight to L.A., Peter starts an argument that promptly gets him thrown off the plane sans baggage, ID and wallet. Ethan comes to the rescue with a rental car, however, and offers to drive Peter cross-country. With no other options, Peter consents. Thus begins the would-be hilarious journey of our unlikely duo.

Galifianakis shines as a hapless, perm-headed, aspiring actor following his dream of making it in Hollywood. There are plenty of well-scripted one-liners for Galifianakis to deliver in his signature, straight-faced manner, including a short conversation about hotdogs, in which Ethan admits, "I'm more of a corn dog guy, myself."

But Ethan also manages to earn our sympathy, carrying his father's ashes cross-country in a coffee can (a la The Big Lebowski) to deposit them in the Grand Canyon. Fortunately, the conceit is employed less for its emotional than its humorous possibilities, one of which involves a few cups of "coffee."

The scriptwriters seem to have been nervous about fulfilling the film's laugh quota, however, as Ethan's behavior very quickly goes from outlandish to crude. Suffice it to say that one scene involves mutual masturbation between him and his dog.  

Downey Jr. inhabits his role as a young professional driven to extremes by the stress of his impending fatherhood and the grating nature of his fellow traveler. Galafianakis steals more than a few scenes, but the source of the film's comedy is the unlikely chemistry between these two characters, whose personalities are at odds.

The film takes a turn for the absurd just before the final reels, however, as our less than dynamic duo gets into a terrible car accident, driving off an overpass and landing upside down, but sustaining no injuries other than Peter's broken arm, for which he is given a sling and a bottle of Vicodin and summarily released from the hospital.

After securing a new car, Ethan takes the wheel as Peter undergoes Vicodin-induced hallucinations, complete with a Pink Floyd soundtrack. Before long, they end up at the border to Mexico, where Peter is arrested and Ethan narrowly avoids escape. A heist, a stolen police truck and a high-speed chase ensue, from which our protagonists emerge scot- (and guilt-) free.

It is a shame the film was taken to such incredible extremes when its real charm lies in the improbable, yet inevitable, slow-budding friendship between Peter and Ethan, a tried-and-true comedic conceit. For moviegoers looking for light laughs from familiar jokes, Due Date will not disappoint. Just don't expect there to be much waiting at the end of the road.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com