Due Date: Rip-roaring fun

First of all, I'd like to take aim at the Great Vowel Shift. This insidious event is responsible for modern speech, but today I felt like it was a revolution taken too far, like the French Revolution. Purchasing the tickets for me and my lovely companion today, I was naturally asked what movie we would like to see. I said "Doo Date" and the bloke behind the counter simply cocked his head and stared at me. When I said "Jew Date", he understood. God. "Jew Date". Sounds like a Z-grade romance.

Anywho, after this little tête-à-tête and the zillion commercials and movie trailers, we (all 8 of us) got around to watching Due Date, a fantastic, fun-filled film directed by Todd Phillipps, responsible for such flicks as The Hangover, Starsky & Hutch and Road Trip.

The plot revolves around high-strung architect Peter Highman (Robert Downey, jr - something tells me he didn't need to research his role a whole lot) and his relationship with his polar opposite Ethan Tremblay - or is it Ethan Chase? (Zach Galifianakis) after Highman is kicked off a plane to L.A. to be with his very-pregnant wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan). Hilarity ensues when manchild Tremblay/Chase offers voluntarily to deliver Highman to his wife through the means of 5-day road trip through that most favourite part of America - the Deep South. In all honesty, the location wasn't explored enough, but that's my only little moue about it.

Of course, the laughs come from the dynamics of the relationship of Tremblay/Chase and Highman, but there is no pretension about it. Both characters are too resolute to be pretentious and this creates an authenticity about the film - what you see is what you get, and I don't think you can say that about all the films that came out this year. But what makes this film rate even higher in my books is that any so-called "dynamics" are not concrete - the flexibility of screenwriters Alan Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel and Todd Phillips allow for the relationship to be malleable and influenced by changing places and events. Of course, given the transitory nature of this film, one hopes that this thought went through the minds of the screenwriters.

I would like to criticise the stillborn nature of Jamie Foxx's role. Cast as best mate Daryl, there are insinuations of adultery with Sarah by crazyman Tramblay/Chase. There is only a tiny amount of exposition for this subplot, which is surprising given that it must be an important issue to a man about to have his first child in a few days. No, instead, it is resolved in a way which never felt like a resolution at all. And yet he is the one to respond to Highman's call of help when he needs it. The ultimate fact is that his character is largely irrelevant because Daryl really is chameleonic and having a bet each way.

Another subplot is Tramblay/Chase's desire to become an actor. It is treated with far more depth than these subplots usually are, which is of course a good thing. The audience gets to see his dubious thespian skills and concludes with a Two and a Half Men tie-in. When Tremblay/Chase declares that he likes Two and a Half Men, "especially Season 2", it doesn't make things clearer but instead more confuddled. Why Two and a Half Men? Your guess is as good as mine, as they say.

Yes, Due Date does contain some lowbrow humour, including some questionable bestiality. But if you're worried about lowbrow humour you probably don't deserve to be going to the movies, anyway. Instead, grab a mate, grab some popcorn and sit down and get ready for 96 minutes of fun.