Sometimes it seems like anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This seems to be the case for Peter Highman, played by Robert Downey, Jr. in the latest film, “Due Date,” directed by Todd Phillips.

This high strung father-to-be is simply trying to catch a plane to get back to his pregnant wife in time for the birth of his first child. He bumps into inspiring actor Ethan Tremblay, played by “The Hangover’s” Zach Galifianakis, who immediately begins to mess up his plans of arriving to Los Angeles from Atlanta any time soon.

The two meet in a fender-bender, and the luck between the dynamic duo goes downhill from there. When they meet again on the plane, thanks to Ethan, the pair also land themselves on a “no fly” list. While his wallet is left on the plane, Peter finds himself stuck in Atlanta with no ID, cash, credit cards or hope of getting home any time soon. Desperate, he hitches a ride with Ethan.

In the film, Ethan’s intelligence is about the equivalent to Lloyd’s (or Harry’s) in “Dumb and Dumber.” Peter, on the other hand, is a very intelligent, successful businessman, who finds himself depending on a man whose main priority is where to find his next prescription for “medical” marijuana.

The film has a basic slap-stick humor to it, and has nothing terribly original to the plot. However, I still found it enjoyable, but most likely because I am a fan of Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. So even though there’s not anything incredibly unique about the movie, it’s still entertaining to watch the pair as disparate as their characters are.

Even though the humor was predictable, the sweet side was somewhat surprising. Despite Peter’s high level of annoyance with Ethan, and his many attempts to leave him stranded, he can’t truly bring himself to completely abandon him. Their 2,000-mile road trip results in a strong yet unforeseen brotherhood between the two men.

The moral of this story could be that everyone has at least something in common with someone else, or that maybe anyone can form a bond after traveling over making that long of a road trip with someone. In short, even though it hasn’t been added to my list of favorite movies, I would still recommend it.

Author