Mission Mountain movies: Due Date
Ahh, winter. A time of snow, cold, early darkness and the holidays. But more inside time also means more movie time, to cuddle up and watch your favorite flick, or visit your local theater, the Showboat in Polson or Entertainer in Ronan, to see some of the hottest new films out.
While winter also means the beginning of Oscar season, there’s always room for mindless comedy, and our favorite comedy director Todd Phillips (“Old School”, “The Hangover”) is back with another buddy-comedy movie. Also known as “bromances” or “bromedies,” Due Date fits the genre that Phillips has so skillfully and meticulously crafted with his previous films. You go into the film for a good laugh, but not much beyond that.
Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) is in Atlanta on business and heading home to Los Angeles to be back in time for the birth of his first child. When a stranger, Ethan Tremblay, (Zack Galifianakis) uses banned words “terrorist” and “bomb” on the plane, both men are kicked off the flight and placed on the No Fly List, meaning…road trip!
While Peter wants nothing to do with Ethan for obvious reasons, he finds himself forced into driving with him after leaving his wallet on the plane. From there, the duo makes their way across the country as the misadventures rack up.
Overall, it’s a decent movie but definitely not Phillips, Galifianakis or Downey’s best. Galifianakis plays his usual role: the weird outcast that people have a hard time getting along with. Think Alan in The Hangover, but not quite as funny. Downey plays a role he’s familiar with as well: cocky and sarcastic, the perfect straight man to Galifianakis’ comic role. There aren’t many gross out moments, which is a good thing, and most of the laughs come from quirks of Ethan, who claims to be 23 and is heading to LA to become an actor. He’s goofy and annoying, and he and Peter go through some crazy hijinks, mostly because of some way Ethan’s screwed up.
The problem, though, is that much of the story lays undeveloped; Phillips expects you to come for a few laughs and be happy with what you get. Instead, it’s really a barebones movie with not much of a plot. I like both of the main characters but they get a little stale after a few hours in the car. While the two men eventually form a bond of sorts, the secondary characters float through the film without much purpose.
It seems the producers of this film thought they could get by with big names, without also producing a substantive film with good laughs. Instead, it settles for cheap gimmicks that don’t really do these actors justice.
Email reporter Sasha Goldstein at reporter3@leaderadvertiser.com and read more of his movie reviews at www.lclmmmovies.blogspot.com.