Due Date

I just love these wacky comedies that pair a garrulous jerk with a guy having the worst day of his life. Due Date doesn't bring anything new to the table, but the humour maintains a very high level throughout and doesn't slip into the embarrassing or the obscene, which is the cornerstone of success in films like this. Plus, Downey and Galifianakis are a great match and I knew from their first meeting on set that I had something to look forward to, and that was the case. There was no end to the number of crazy, yet mostly very human and civil gags, and the overall simple script surprised and delighted me with several successful and funny twists. If the Americans intend to carry on making this type of comedies, I certainly won't be angry. (08/30/2011)

I’d kill him. I guess I’d kill him. A really pleasant comedy, and surprisingly it all works mainly thanks to the chemistry between Downey and Galifianakis. Downey is amazing, as usual, delivering perfect one-liners almost every other minute, while the other one is a complete jerk, a disgusting pig with a masturbating dog. Todd Phillips literally builds on this contrast and puts the duo in situations that wouldn’t occur to the viewer even in their wildest dreams. He went a little overboard sometimes, maybe that’s why I didn’t give it the full five stars. Anyway, I had an amazing time watching it and I hadn’t laughed like this in a long time. Dad... You were like a father to me. (02/11/2011)

This would have been a pretty cool madcap comedy if it had not so openly ripped off Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It is not only the premise and structure of the movie that were ripped-off, however, some of the scenes and the characters' speeches were too - apparently a year after John Hughes' death, the screenwriters took the opportunity to stop being afraid of plagiarising. Also, in the original movie John Candy played a bumbling oaf who deserved the audience’s sympathy in the end, Zach Galifianakis plays a dangerous sociopath endangering people’s lives, with whom perhaps few could sympathise. Were this an out and out remake, one could have probably turned a blind eye, as in principle this is an entertaining road-movie, however, attempting to pass this off as a self-contained new movie is really just a pretentious ruse. (10/07/2021)

This intelligent and realistic road-movie buddy comedy offers a crazy ride and yet, at the same time, it stays down to earth and retains a human element. At the heart of the successful script are the characters written for Robert Downey and Zach Galifianakis, and the great chemistry between them. Galifianakis is no longer just a quiet, ridiculous character like the one he played in The Hangover. (01/20/2011)

And once again the great comedian Zach Galifianakis returns to us, and once again he's equipped with a lot of great lines and jokes. He just hits me the right way and as road movies go this is the best choice. But I can't forgive myself for comparing it to The Hangover again, which set the bar really high. And although it has one brilliant scene, it's just not up to the level of The Hangover. It gets 4.5 stars. (05/24/2011)