Review: Due Date (2010) TH

Having toleration is an understatement

After Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) gets a quick look at the guy who just hit the door off of his chauffeur's car at the airport, like with everything else he's a busy man who doesn't think very much about the bearded guy who's probably got more than an issue or two hidden behind the facial fortress. But soon enough that man with a perm to match turns into that person who just won't go away. He's the most foulest, unashamed "companion," but one who instead acts more like a capture of his every next move. As the saying goes, "Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little," but no matter what he does to compromise, the pesky man named Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) just keeps getting worse and causes Peter to nearly reinvent himself along the way so he can just get to his wife's labor in time but first he has to cover a stretch from Atlanta to L.A. Simple enough, right?

This is easier said than done, as he's got no ID, money, luggage or car, and he just got put on the No-Fly list due to a misunderstanding involving Ethan. Now, the man who just caused him enough grief offers him a ride in his rental car with his little dog Sonny because he's going to Hollywood to become an actor, face-shot portfolio, impressions and all. Peter grudgingly excepts, because how bad could it really be? Well, he probably puts up with more idiocy than Charles Darwin himself researched and catalogued. He's the Clint Eastwood of comedies as he's a man of fewer, quicker words and isn't used to opening up. Ethan, on the other hand, is an imploding, extroverted personality all his own. Though he's a walking, talking conundrum: nice, but rude, giving, but takes, a talker, but not a listener, and then sympathetic in one way and a jerk the next. If that wasn't enough Peter meets all kinds of contradictory characters in middle America that he might not have ever seen or wanted to see ever again. Including rude and violent employees and drug dealers who want him to watch their obnoxious kids while they score a deal.

"Due Date" is a comedy/adventure that is often delivered with deadpan humor that revolves around the ridiculousness of the situations and interactions, rather than droves of inventive dialogue or witty one-liners. The whole trip is a trip, so some impossible and implausible scenarios happen that can insult one's intelligence from getting into fights, near death accidents and possible trouble with the law, but that is only if you take it seriously. Zach Galifianakis puts on a detestable but commendable role as a delusional, sheltered man who's naive and unapologetic but he doesn't even realize it himself. Robert Downey Jr. plays it straight but is able to still line up the comedic scenes and slip in a few lines of his own when it gets the best of him. The R is for drug use, frequent cursing and some minor sexual references. The greatest aspect about this movie, is it never lets up. Even when there's a supposed sad and touching scene, something still manages to goof up, go unexpectedly wrong or put the two actor's back on the ropes. Like the old gag of pulling away with a handshake, it puts the unsure audience on edge but still leaves room to anticipate what will happen next. It's still a growing experience that breaks down their barriers to make the two leads who are entirely different people beforehand now either best friends or just knowledgeable chums that are still at each other's throats.

Director: Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Old School, The Hangover)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis
Website: IMDB

Quotes:

Ethan: "Dad, you were like a father to me."

Heidi: "You know, only, like, fucking jerk-offs get perms."

Ethan: "I'm not an accountant Peter. I'm not even Jewish."

Peter: "How have you made it? How have you not run yourself over in a car?"
Ethan: "I've done that."

Ethan: "God Almighty, holy moly. It's like I'm traveling with a child!"
Peter: "Did you use the restroom?"
Ethan: "Good point. I need to take a pee-pee."

REVIEW: Horrible Bosses (2011)

Director: Seth Gordon

Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499658/

This goofy comedy, sort of like The Hangover with some slight shades of Office Space (and not just because Jennifer Aniston is in this movie too), was pretty enjoyable for what it was. I didn’t hear of this until recently, and it had such a weird name that I figured it’d be some sort of really out-there dark comedy, or something. But nope, it’s just a regular modern comedy, albeit done better than some others have been.

Mostly the reason for this is that there’s no nonsense or crap in it. The movie doesn’t try to squeeze in an emotional subplot or get serious. It’s just zany fun, and although it’s not done masterfully either, you’d be hard pressed to really call this a bad movie by any stretch. The plot is that three guys get fed up with their completely ridiculous and, well, horrible bosses, and hatch a half-drunken plot to kill them that turns into reality pretty quick. All three guys are pretty much morons and there are easy ways they could fix their problems. Like when someone is blackmailing you by threatening to tell your girlfriend you slept with them, wouldn’t you just go to your girlfriend first and calmly and rationally explain the situation, thus nullifying the blackmail? These blackmail scenarios are so easily beaten and happen so often in movies, but nobody ever does anything about them. And it bugs me! There are a few other moments like this that do admittedly take you out of the movie, but then, it could have been worse.

And then again, stupid characters are pretty much a norm for this type of comedy, so I can’t complain too much about that. Aside from a few sticking points, this was an enjoyable film. Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell all clearly had a ton of fun playing the evil bosses, with the fun-ness directly proportional to how outlandish and ludicrous their terrible acts were, and leads Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis were pretty funny, too. Jamie Foxx had a good part as ‘Motherfucker’ Jones, the go-to man that the guys consult about their murder scheme. The ending could have been stronger, but mostly this was a really fun and goofy ride that I liked quite a bit.

The jokes were really predictable (well, except for a few choice instances) and there wasn’t anything too special about this movie, but I had fun watching it. It is a fair bit raunchier and more risqué than some other recent comedies, and that’s part of it, but mostly it’s just the strength and energy of the cast and the spunky, loose jokes that are chucked at you like fireballs that do it in the end. Get this one while it’s hot. You won’t regret it.

REVIEW: Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Director: F. Gary Gray

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx

Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197624/

What is it with Gerard Butler and doing really poor attempts at social commentaries? First he did the abominable Gamer and now this one. Granted, this is a notch more watchable than Gamer, but it’s still nothing to fawn over, and in fact I’d say I didn’t much like it at all.

The story is about this guy whose wife and daughter are murdered by two guys. When the justice system fails to apprehend them as well as Butler wants, he spends ten years concocting a revenge plan against everyone involved, including his old pal Nick (Jamie Foxx). Butler commits horrendous acts against innocent people in a very hammy, clumsy attempt at making some sort of statement about the justice system…and that’s really all there is to it.

Mostly this movie is just dumb. I could excuse the extreme levels of implausibility at hand if the movie was likeable and smart in other areas, but it’s not. It’s basically just another SAW movie. I didn’t like Gerard Butler’s character because he was a crazy psychopath with no human qualities at all (oh, wait, I forgot about his daughter’s little ring of beads…well, like I said, no human qualities at all). I didn’t like Jamie Foxx because he was a cardboard cutout sometimes and a coldhearted dimwit who couldn’t do his job right the next. There’s basically nothing likeable about this movie. So what are we left with?

GORE! LOTS AND LOTS OF GORE! AND DEATH! Butler sets up ridiculous SAW/Hostel-lite traps, makes “profound” speeches about how smart he is and how much the justice system sucks, and Jamie Foxx incompetently tries to stop him while neglecting his family over and over. There, you don’t even have to watch this movie now; that’s all there is to it.

What really pisses me off though, even more than the fact that this is clearly trying to make some kind of statement about the judicial system in America. There’s one part, where Butler stands up in court and verbally schools the judge on why she’s wrong, that did point out some good things that the film could have elaborated on, but most of the time it isn’t like that. Gerard Butler is not making a statement about how much our judicial system is flawed. He is just killing people. There’s no meaning to any of it, and if you think there is, I advise you to go watch Se7en and see what a real meaningful, intelligent thriller is like. This is just crap. It’s got no subtlety, no grace and nothing about it that’s really likeable or interesting beyond the KUH-RAZY PLOT TWISTS MAN! Ugh.