DUE DATE

Director: Todd Phillips

Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx

TODD Phillips had to go some way to beat the constant comedy he served up in The Hangover, and sadly this latest project just isn’t as funny.

However, it has a lot going for it. There’s far more depth to the main characters and the plot is more satisfying than the manic episodes in The Hangover.

One of the best actors from that movie, Galifianakis, is back playing someone even more annoying. Downey Jnr plays Peter Highman, who is flying east to west across the USA to be with his wife who is having a baby.

The problem is he meets Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis), an aspiring actor on his way to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune.

Highman is a hard-working architect with an attitude problem and Tremblay is the most annoying person on the planet.

The two end up travelling the whole journey together and getting into the most amazing scrapes involving drugs busts, Mexican border officials, stolen cars and even a dead man’s ashes. The strength of the movie is in the chemistry between the two stars. There’s actually some decent acting and you can see a bond develop... sort of.

It wouldn’t be a Todd Phillips movie, though, without some outrageous situations – the kind of scenes that leave you very embarrassed but chuckling away in spite of yourself.

There’s a small part for Jamie Foxx as Highman’s buddy, a friendship that Tremblay manages to stick a knife in. Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (better known as the music producer and rapper RZA) has a very funny cameo as the customs official from hell.

So, all in all, if you fancy a fun night then give this a whirl.

HHHII

Steve Payne