Despite the inspired sight of Robert Downey Jr. punching a young boy in the stomach, Due Date may be the year’s least amusing comedy, a mismatched-duo road-trip saga which suggests that star Zach Galifianakis, only a year removed from his breakout turn in The Hangover, has already exhausted his lovable-absurdist-weirdo schtick. Paired with Downey Jr.’s angry architect Peter, Galifianakis’ aspiring actor Ethan struts about like a queen while holding his pet dog’s leash, acts clueless and spouts random nuggets of faux-wisdom. He’s a garish caricature so eager to be outrageous – he’s wearing a scarf! And he says he isn’t good at numbers because he’s not Jewish! – that the visible strain proves embarrassing. Todd Philips’ follow-up to The Hangover operates from such a nonsensical set-up that the film immediately feels tossed-off: on a plane from Atlanta to L.A. to be with his pregnant wife before she delivers, Peter is unbelievably targeted as a terrorist threat, and (without being allowed to reclaim his luggage, wallet or any personal belongings) put on the no-fly list. Thus, he joins Ethan on a drive through southern U.S.A., during which Ethan buys drugs, weeps about his dead daddy (whose ashes are in a coffee can), accidentally drives them to the Mexico border (while stoned!) and flips their vehicle after falling asleep at the wheel. Not a single one of these scenarios manages to be either surprising or humorous, which can also be said about the stars’ rapport, with Downey Jr. exuding too much genuine (and understandable) rage to seem comical, and Galifianakis behaving wackily with off-putting aggressiveness. As with his prior effort, Philips’ film carries with it a scent of homophobia – Peter fears that his son will have a girl’s name; Ethan’s swishiness is ridiculed and he exits the film to the ironic-counterpoint theme song from Two and a Half Men, “Manly Men” – but mostly, Due Date is less offensive for being knuckleheaded than for being tortuously unfunny.
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