Due Date is not an enjoyable movie, and for a comedy that’s a huge problem. Essentially a
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) re-hash, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Peter Highman, an uptight, soon-to-be family man traveling cross country with an overweight oaf named Ethan Tremblay, and played by Zach Galifianakis. There are no trains involved, but you’ll find many of the same jokes and stabs at masculine endearment, as well as the jerk-idiot dynamic most recently updated in
Dinner for Schmucks (2010). But the story’s familiarity and repetitive nature are problems good movies can overcome… and
Due Date doesn’t.
