Some directors go to the same well over and over again, making films with the same basic formula with different settings and actors but the same basic plot. Once a film is successful, the natural inclination is to repeat that formula so long as it remains box office gold. Whether the films are any good or not is irrelevant. The only issue is will it make money. Well, that is the case with the film that is subject of this review, Due Date, which is brought to us by the same team that brought us the widely successful (at least at the box office), The Hangover, looking to repeat that box office gold.

Film 

While Due Date is basically a copy of director Todd Phillips’ The Hangover, I kept thinking to myself as I watched this film that is also seemed to be a copy of Planes, Trains and Automobiles as well. in so much as it involved a calamitous travel experience by two characters who seem to be joined at the hip, even though they couldn’t be more different. from each other. I guess Due Date can be described as a cross between the two, with the over the top, stupid and low brow humor of The Hangover, crossed with the basic plot of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I have seen this film done before and done better, even though I was not exactly all that fond of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

The plot here couldn’t be more simple. The film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Peter Highman, an architect on business in Atlanta who is on his way home to Los Angeles for the birth of his first child. When he arrives at the airport, he opens to door of his limo, only to have it ripped off by a passing truck. It is there he meets the passenger of the truck, Ethan Tremblay, an overweight, bearded crazy man, who is also on the way to LA to become an actor. It turns out that they are both on the same flight. They get into a bit of a misunderstanding on the flight and Peter draws the attention of the air marshall who shoots him with a rubber bullet and removes both he and Ethan from the plane. While things are cleared up, both, for unexplained reasons, are put on the no fly list and are not able to fly to LA.

As Peter is anxious to get home, he agrees to ride with Ethan to LA as Peter lost his wallet and is unable to rent a car. Ethan sure knows how to attract calamities as he buys some grass for his “glaucoma”, crashes the car, shoots Peter, sends him to the hospital and escapes imprisonment in Mexico. All of the humor is over the top with some downright crude and frankly, not all that funny. All I can say is that the payday must have been sweet for Mr. Downey to have taken this role. Sure, there are a few laughs in this film, just not enough of them to warrant a recommendation other than as a rental, if that.

Video 

While I was not exactly impressed with the film, I was very impressed with the video presentation which is excellent and almost worthy of a 5 star rating. The film has a richly saturated and natural looking color palette with excellent levels of detail, clarity and depth. Facial and background details are exceptional. Blacks are deep, rich and consistent throughout the film. Noise levels are kept at a minimum and I was not able to detect any technical issues with the encode at all. If I had a quibble, and it is a minor one at that, it would be that there was a tad of black crush in some of the darker sequences. Otherwise, Due Date is a great looking film. I just wish that the script matched the video quality.

Audio 

The audio on Due Date is much better than I would have expected for such a film. I was particularly impressed with the fidelity of the recorded sound which is exceptional. The dialogue track was beautifully recorded, with the actors sounding as if they were speaking in you room, rather than through a set of speakers. The sound was rich, smooth and transparent all around. The quality of the audio was readily apparent with the musical score. I have never heard many of the songs on the soundtrack sound as good as they sound here, with a richness and warmth that you don’t hear too often in films. In addition to the smoothness and warmth, the transparency of sound was exceptional as well, with an excellent sense of depth and layering of sound.

The sound also had excellent dynamics and deep and tight bass that gave all the sound effects such as the car crashes an excellent sense of impact and weight. The only issue that keeps me from giving the audio a perfect score of 5 stars is that the surrounds were not used aggressively continuously throughout the entire film to provide that total sense of immersion which is the hallmark of a reference sound design. Other than this minor quibble (it is a comedy after all), the audio here is darn near perfect and much better than the film probably really deserves. It is that impressive.

Special Features 

The extras here are utterly forgettable. They include a slightly expanded version of the Two and a Half Men scene that is shown at the end of the film. Also included is a gag reel, deleted scenes, a Due Date “Action Smash Up” which is a collection of the physical action sequences in the film complied together at a rapid clip as well as a very brief set of questions between Peter and Ethan as they are riding together that is an elongated version of a scene near the beginning of the film. Quite frankly, I am not sure why these compilation clips were even included as they are simply repetitive of scenes already in the film and are very short duration. The release of Due Date is a combo pack so it included a second disc containing a DVD copy of the film as well as a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs. The release is also BD-Live enabled.

Final Thoughts 

As you can see from my review, I am less than enamored with this film. It is simply a rehash of the same type of humor as seen in The Hangover and even stars Zach Galifianakis who played a similar role in that film. If you are bowled over by that type of comedy, go ahead and give Due Date a look. Rated as a rental, at best.