Movie Review: Due Date

This is a smaller film with a couple of big names in it – Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galafanakis. The two of them are on the screen maybe 96% of the movie. We see Downey’s film wife for perhaps 2% and a Western Union employee for the other 2% so the film makes or breaks it on the relationship between the two. In some ways it is the remake of the John Candy / Steve martin classic “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” with a updated twist.

Downey and Zack are both in Atlanta, trying to get to LA for 2 very different reasons – Downey to be there for the birth of his first child, Zack to break into the Hollywood scene and get on a TV show. They are thrust together and end up having to travel together by car the whole way. Downey hates Zack (see Martin hates Candy) but by the end of the film, they are buddies. How they get there is the entire film.

This is not some finely crafted adventure film nor is it thought provoking. What it is however is funny! As we left the movie theater, CollegeBoy stated that the “R rated comedy is back" and that is an apt description. I wondered at times how much may have been improvised, especially some of Zack’s stuff as his off beat sense of humor was very evident. He helped carry “It was Sort of a Funny Story” (reviewed here) and did the same for this film. My favorite part of the film was a scene at the Grand Canyon where first Downey needs to explain that it is not mane made and then in a tender moment of the film tells Zack that he did try to ditch him along the way but came back for him. Zack contemplates this for a few seconds then said something along the lines of “well, you brought back donuts so it’s all good”

Overall I give this 3 Penguins


At times we all laughed out loud. There were tender moments, funny scenes and touching ones as well as things that could make someone a bit uncomfortable. But I think this is the context of Zack’s sense of humor and it shines through here throughout the picture.