DUE DATE, 2010
Movie Reviews!

High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time

Release Date: 5 November 2010

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REVIEW:

Don’t let anybod y fool you, DUE DATE is the sequel to PLANES, TRAINS and AUTOMOBILES. It’s basically the same movie except that there are two different actors playing the lead roles and we now have cell phones to call our loved ones instead of having to stand in line and wait for a pay phone to call them. Something people used to do way back when.

For anyone who was born after 1985, Planes Trains and Automobiles was a classic road movie starring the late John Candy and Steven Martin.

John Candy played the sloppy, overweight, lonely guy who is learning to deal with the recent loss of his wife. In the sequel DUE DATE, Zach Galifianakis plays a sloppy, overweight, lonely guy who is learning to deal with the loss of his father. The added bonus from the original film is that the fat guy now has a dog. Something that comes in handy whenever the filmmakers need a quick laugh. The old cutaway to the dog doing something strange shot that always gets a lot of chuckles.

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Steve Martin played the uptight, white color businessman who is trying to be a better person because he is trying to be a good role model to his wife and two young children (perhaps a road trip will help him as it’s helped many people in past movies). In the sequel DUE DATE, Robert Downey Jr. plays an uptight, white color businessman who is trying to be a better person because he is about to be a father. The added bonus is that the uptight guy is really scared to be a father because his old-man left him when he was just a boy. More dramatic conflict!

So the whole father angle pulls these two guys together like the whole I love my wife angle did in the original movie.

Another added storytelling bonus from the original film is that the stakes are bigger because Downey Jr. needs to get back home quickly because his wife is going in labor. In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Steve Martin just needs to get home for thanksgiving dinner. Kind of pales in comparison, doesn’t it? So what if you miss a thanksgiving dinner. There’s always leftovers!

In the original film the road trip was from New York City to Chicago with plenty of cities in between. In Due Date, the road trip is from Atlanta to Los Angeles. So one film does the northern states trip as the other does the southern states trip. There are more cliches in the southern states so that generally means more opportunities for comedy.

In the original film, a car accident pulls the two characters a part. The same thing happens in DUE DATE.

In the original film, an episode of hard drinking bonds the two characters. In DUE DATE, an episode of pot smoking bonds the two characters.

In the original film, the two guys have a strange occurrence that involves the penis when they are sleeping. Some thing happens in DUE DATE.

In the original film, the uptight guy goes off on a rental car clerk which leads him to getting beat up badly. In DUE DATE, the uptight guy goes off on a money transfer clerk which leads him to getting beat up badly.

In the original film, the uptight guy goes off on the fat guy and then feels guilty about it afterwards. Same thing happens in DUE DATE.

All in all, both are funny films that are performed perfectly by all four leads. And I like both films a lot. But they are practically the same film and if I were John Hughes estate (the original writer and director of Plains, Trains...), I’d demand some kind of credit or back pay.


I also have to say that the trailers that promoted this film really told us too much and, for me personally, it kind of ruined the movie. We know exactly what was going to happen and there were no real surprises at all. The trailers are the Coles Notes version of the film and sometimes you don’t even need to read the whole book, because what’s the point, you know everything anyway.

Doesn’t this need to stop? Perhaps not because I talk to a lot of people who say that the best part of going to the movies is the trailer promotions beforehand. So perhaps I’m in the minority here.


I do have to say that Zach Galifianakis is really onto something. He’s a complete original and really is a good actor and not just a comedian. As per this review, he’s also starring in the 2nd season of the HBO TV series BORED TO DEATH, playing a creative guy looking to find his way in life and taking a lot of drugs because of it.

He’s basically playing the same role every single time, but he always has a different spin on it. In Bored to Death he’s less funny and more introspective than the roles he played in Due Date and The Hangover. He really doing a dramatic turn on the TV show while he tackles the more goofy and funnier side of himself in the feature film world.

This guy isn’t going away. And I don’t think he’s going to do something stupid and die like John Candy did before he hit his peak.

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