Due Date

Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis, Juliette Lewis, Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Danny McBride, RZA, Todd Phillips

Director: Todd Phillips

There are more laughs than you'd expect from the fairly painful first 30 or 40 minutes of this road-trip comedy of violence - a sort of Planes, Trains and Automobiles without the trains.

All Peter (Downey) wants to do is get home to his heavily-pregnant wife (a barely used Monaghan), but his journey is plagued by Ethan (Galifianakis), a junkie and aspiring actor, who literally bumps into him at the airport.

Thanks to Ethan, Peter is subsequently arrested by customs for carrying drugs (they're Ethan's); thrown off the plane, shot by a rubber bullet and placed on a no-fly list; forced to join Ethan in the only available car; assaulted by the children of Ethan's drug dealer (Lewis); beaten up by a wheelchaired cashier; doped up by Ethan's fumes in the car; handcuffed to a table by a Mexican border patrol; chased by police; sustains a broken arm in a car crash; and is finally shot by Ethan (accidentally, of course).

Her tries to leave Ethan at a roadside stop, but hasn't the heart and comes back: a fateful decision that leads to further disasters. And then there's Ethan's dog... Too many crass and crude set-ups at the beginning gradually lead to more satisfying rib-tickling moments. The film certainly could have been funnier - but it isn't a complete car wreck, even if it seems a bit longer than it is.

Jamie Foxx appears in a short role that anyone could have played. while the leading duo will alternately annoy and amuse you.

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Technicolor.
95 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 04 Nov 2010