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"Past Due"
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It's about time that a Planes Trains and Automobiles remake was "Due"
-
Nov 6, 2010
- by TheJohn
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
+2
Okay, stop me if you heard this one: a fussy straight faced white collar guy ends up spending an excruciating trek across the country with a talkative blue collar slob and they slowly but surely end up best friends. I think John Hughes made it...........Steve Martin has an F Bomb tyraid in it...........yeah. Sans Trains, this movie really felt like familiar ground.
Initially when I saw this movie being advertised all I really thought of as soon as I saw "brought to you by the same team as The Hangover" was that for as much as they tried making a joke about the guy missing a tooth in The Hangover, they were really gonna shoehorn the scene of Zach Galifinakis's big hairy tum in Robert Downy Jr's face. Thankfully that wasn't completely the case but the movie and it's stories of a man whose a victim of circumstance and his own attitude trying to get home to LA from Atlanta to see the birth of his baby and having to get stuck with a pot smoking wanna be actor who just won't shut up.
The story is nicely made, but if my title and opening didn't give myself away, this movie was perfected in the 80's. At least they found two leads with chemistry that I can get behind to see and care about the resolution.
The Pros are that RDJ and Zach both get to share the spotlight with funny lines and we can start to see RDJ soften and appreciate Zach along with Zach's own weird issues and quirks. Bonus points to the scene where RDJ shows a stiff hand to parenting to a drug dealing mommy's kids. The cons come from seeing RDJ's character Peter get into too many situations that Zach's character Ethan gets him into and Ethan doesn't seem to suffer consequences of. Of course, part of the problem with Peter is his attitude and it doesn't help matters much.
The best way to recommend this is that if you like Zach Galifinakis or Todd Phillips previous movie "The Hangover" you'll probably like this. I liked this one a little more since Robert Downey Jr was on hand to class things up a little and the movie didn't waste quite as much time on quite so many quite as contrived jokes and characters. I do know two things. One is that I would like to see these two team up again if possible and two, after seeing this, you will believe that a dog can masturbate.
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Trekscribbler
November 09, 2010
Thought the exact same thing about the comparison to the stellar (and underrated) PLANES, TRAINS, & AUTOMOBILES, but I'll probably wait for the DVD on this one. Downey Jr just overacts in my book, but Zach did is downright funny.
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woopak_the_thrill
November 08, 2010
ha-hah. You and your headlines. I kinda thought the same thing when I saw the trailer to this movie. I still want to see this but I think I'll wait for the dvd. :)
TheJohn
November 09, 2010
I like my headline for my Cheer's review myself. I took it from a line on the Simpsons.
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woopak_the_thrill
November 08, 2010
ha-hah. You and your headlines. I kinda thought the same thing when I saw the trailer to this movie. I still want to see this but I think I'll wait for the dvd. :)
TheJohn
November 08, 2010
It's okay, but yeah wait for the DVD unless a dreary Saturday is on your horizon.
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FM_ALEX
November 07, 2010
Love that title, I didn't even think of that comparison. Brilliant.
TheJohn
November 07, 2010
I'm actually surprised that more people HAVEN'T to be honest. It's not completely the same movie but it might as well be.
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More Due Date (2010 movie) reviews
Due Date is possibly the nastiest and most unpleasant film experience of the year, consistently confusing comedy with cruelty, and it may continue to rank as one of the cruelest films of all time (at least until the Farrelly Brothers write another script). If you've seen Planes, Trains & Automobiles, it's basically the same thing but without any of the warm, depth or charm. Irredeemable asshole Peter Highman, "acted" by Robert Downey Jnr, is trying … more
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Compliments (60)
** out of **** "Due Date" is a mediocre follow-up to a fairly-solid film; that being Todd Phillip's "The Hangover", which was like an insane carnival of twisted, warped laughter. It took advantage of its Las Vegas setting and let its characters run wild; but without showing us how they took their precious little time about it. For the most time, they're just bumbling idiots. "Due Date" takes a similar approach; but instead of three men in the "wolf … more
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Compliments (12)
review by rmurray847.
November 07, 2010
A PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES for a new generation (but far less successful), DUE DATE delivers many solid laughs, but is sloppy and unmoving. Robert Downey Jr. is an uptight architect working away from home in Atlanta. He's got a ticket to fly back home, because his wife (Michelle Monaghan) is scheduled to deliver their first child in just a few days. Zack Galifianakis is the strange, troublesome guy who utterly messes up his plans…and the two are forced to embark on a road … more
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DUE DATE Written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel and Todd Phillips Directed by Todd Phillips Starring Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis and Michelle Monaghan Ethan Tremblay: "Two and a Half Men" is the reason I wanted to become an actor - especially the second season. Todd Phillips has been making male no-brainer comedies for quite some time now, with varied results. In 2008, … more
Comments (6)
Compliments (65)
Director Todd Phillips, the creator of "Old School" and "The Hangover" thought he could pull another "classic" by casting the Hollywood's Playboy at this moment, Robert Downey Jr. and the hilarious comedian Zach Galifianakis. Great cast but not that great story. The typical "glam meets nerd" has been done tens of times before and I really though this approach would be different but it just didn't worked that well. I'm not suggesting that this movie … more
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Robert Downey Jr how you break my heart. Not even my love for you can save me from the pains in which you inflicted upon me during Due Date. Not even my love for the obseenly odd Zach Galifianakis spared me a pain that could only rival that of child birth. OK, that is probably a bit of a stretch, but I think you get what I am trying to say. In true Todd Phillips (director) style, this film fits right in with Old School and The Hangover. Although not as good as The Hangover, Due … more
Comments (1)
Compliments (24)
Comedies these days are more common than a two-legged dog. Every year, every month, every day a new comedy releases in theaters some are funny some are less than funny and then there are those rare comedies that are so god-awful, so nasty, so cruel so shamelessly unfunny that after seeing it you absolutely cringe at the slightest mention of the name of the film. Todd Philips' "Due Date" is such a comedy, a comedy that takes no shame in ripping off one … more
Comments (7)
Compliments (30)
I seem to be one of the few people who found the characters in this film to be so unpleasant that they were sort of lovable. Oh well, I also think Oscar the Grouch is sweet. From the guys who made the uproariously funny and politically incorrect film The Hangover comes another film (perhaps more politically incorrect and certainly less funny) Due Date. The story is very straight forward and for the most part entirely predictable, but this is an American comedy and they haven't … more
Comments (3)
Compliments (6)
A lot of hyperboles are used for laughter in a theater on the box art or in a review for a comedy film. My fellow film journalists may write “I laughed until I cried!” or “I laughed until my sides hurt!” However, during my screening of Due Date, one of my friends I was watching the film with literally fell out of his seat and folded up like a lawn chair after hearing one of the many perfectly executed jokes in Todd Phillips’ new comedy. To tell you the … more
Comments (1)
Compliments (21)
Pretentious, dull, witless, stupid, cliché and quite frankly unbearable Todd Phillips' follow up to his critical and commercial smash hit "The Hangover", "Due Date" is the biggest miscalculation of any comedy I have seen since oh... "The Last Airbender" this a gross disgusting film with two of the most unlikable lead character to appear in films in the last ten years a truly god-awful film that thinks its funny and obviously knows … more
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About the reviewer
John Nelson (TheJohn)
Ranked #7
Ranked #7
Born in Wausau Wisconsin. Move at an early age to Ventura California and lived for 8 years. Growing up in a big city landscape didn't prepare me for my next move: Archbold Ohio with a population of … more
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About this movie
Director Todd Phillips re-teams with his break-out Hangover star Zach Galifianakis for this road movie concerning a soon-to-be father (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his cross-country trip to make it back in time for his baby's birth -- with the only roadblock being the dubious passenger (Galifianakis) who's along for the ride. Michelle Monaghan and Jamie Foxx co-star in the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures production.
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Cast:
Alan Arkin,
Jamie Foxx,
Juliette Lewis,
Robert Downey Jr.,
Zach Galifianakis,
Michelle Monaghan
Director:
Todd Phillips
Release Date:
5 November 2010
MPAA Rating:
R
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