‘Due Date’ fails to live up to ‘Hangover’s’ greatness

“Due Date”

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis,… “Due Date”

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Film studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures

C

Todd Phillips’ “The Hangover” was an immensely successful film, in part because of its novel comedic techniques, such as alluding to the ending in the first scene by centering drama around the search for a woman’s fiancee. Phillips’ latest effort, however, fails to update the formula.

“Due Date”’s plot is remarkably similar to “The Hangover”’s: It features a level-headed protagonist — in this case, soon-to-be father Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) — and a foil, the eccentric Ethan Tremblay, whom Peter meets by complete chance. The two embark on a journey that, in a bizarre sort of way, brings them together. Sprinkled in the seams of this formulaic script are moments of insanity aimed at generating laughs — but this time, these moments fail.

The film begins with Peter traveling home from a business trip in Atlanta. At the airport, he runs into Ethan, a would-be actor whose inspiration is “Two and a Half Men.” After a string of events only possible in the Todd Phillips universe, Peter finds himself depending on Mr. Tremblay to get him home to Los Angeles in time to witness the birth of his child. The two invariably wind up embroiled in a comic misadventure, which includes a fight with a paraplegic, taking drugs and an urn full of ashes.

Unfortunately, the smart screenwriting that made “The Hangover” a success is nowhere to be found in “Due Date.” Whereas the former’s excess and grandeur made its plot twists seem unpredictable and fresh, the same frame doesn’t work in the latter.

At one point in the film, for instance, the unlikely duo finds itself sneaking past the U.S.-Mexico border with narcotics in the vehicle. A car chase ensues, which impossibly ends with the two getting away. Throughout the chaos, however, there isn’t a single moment where the outcome isn’t easily foreseeable.

“Due Date” does, however, have its moments: Galifianakis gives a solid performance, exercising his versatility as he portrays the dark and troubled Ethan. Robert Downey, Jr., takes the predictable script and does his best to provide some laughs.

Overall, “Due Date” doesn’t do much to be original or really revamp “The Hangover” formula. Instead, it provides a few cheap laughs — and only because of its star-studded cast.