When you make a road trip movie, and you have two mismatched characters sharing that road, one can’t help but to think back to John Hughes 1987 masterpiece Planes Trains and Automobiles. It might not be right, but unfortunately, it just happens. And when you do, you come up with the conclusion that this film is a food stamps version of the real deal. While Todd Phillips is talented and Zack Galifinakis and Rober Downey Jr. are fine actors, the material in this film is just mean. In every way.
In PTA you had a work-a-holic who was trying to get home for Thanksgiving only to get stuck next to a slob. John Candy was that slob and for all of the shortcomings of his character, Del Griffith, the character, knew he was a bit of a slob, he knew he was a bit annoying and he knew that he was a bit hard to get along with. But when all was said and done, he was a sweet man and absolutely knew WHO HE WAS.
If you compare him to Zack’s character, it’s like comparing a character after he has been through the editing process 17 times as opposed to the original draft that Galifinakis seems that he is. Candy might have been written like Galifinakis’ character is at the beginning, but Hughes took the time to polish and shine him. And what we were left with a family man, indelibly devoted to his wife and a man who was giving, honest, kind and principled. He was flawed no doubt, but he wasn’t a jerk. The same can be said about Neil Page, flawed, but a decent human being.
Due Date has unlikable characters. I mean every single character in here (with the exception of Downey’s wife) is a complete jerk at times. Ethan Trembley is so over the top that you just can’t take him seriously. He is just mean and he is such a slob that you have no empathy for him. Peter Highman is an angry, violent rage of a volcano that even when he is being helped across country to see his wife, he finds it hard to be nice. This is a man who will punch a child, spit in a dog’s face and leave a man broke at a rest room while stealing his car. I found it hard to like any character in the film, but especially the two leads.
With PTA, there was humour in the situations. In Due Date, it’s just not that funny because in this film, you have crack whores, lots of drugs, unrealistic and cringe-worthy situations, and scene after scene of incredulous acts that would get you punched out in real life. To see a man masturbate in the seat beside you is not funny. However, seeing the dog do it, I have to admit, is.
Due Date sis not entirely unfunny. There are sporadic scenes of humour. And Downey is good, as always. But like I said, maybe it’s just wrong to compare it to PTA, but there were laugh out loud scenes like the car rental scene, “You’re going the wrong way”, “those aren’t pillows”, “do you think this vehicle is safe?” and so on on. Then at the end you have the cover of Every Time You Go Away and it fits perfectly with the tone of the film. At the end of this, you just have Zak being Zak.
I wanted to like this, but it disappointed me immensely.
Ratings : 3/10
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“The Beaver” tells the story of Walter Black (Mel Gibson), a man who has lost his way in life and is dealing with an extreme case of depression. His wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) has told him to move out and his oldest son Porter (Anton Yelchin) hates him. Just when he is about to call it quits, Walter becomes friends with a hand puppet named The Beaver, who takes total control of Walter’s life. With The Beaver constantly attached to Walter, he is able redeem himself at work and with his wife and youngest son. It isn’t long though before living life through The Beaver catches up to Walter making his life even worse than ever before. It is now up to Walter to take back his life or to lose everything he has worked his entire life for and live it forever as The Beaver.
I recently saw Viva Riva! at Lincoln Center, where it was among the opening films of the African Film Festival. The movie was well received by the audience, including, to my surprise, by women. Festival organizers announced that the film had just swept the African Movie Academy Awards, and the general feeling seemed to be that it served as proof African cinema is really coming into its own.
