Due Date

Due Date
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Todd Phillips
Screenplay by	Alan R. Cohen Alan Freedland Adam Sztykiel Todd Phillips
Story by	Alan R. Cohen Alan Freedland
Produced by	Todd Phillips Daniel Goldberg Susan Downey
Starring	Robert Downey Jr. Zach Galifianakis
Cinematography	Lawrence Sher
Edited by	Debra Neil-Fisher
Music by	Christophe Beck
Production companies	Legendary Pictures Green Hat Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	October 31, 2010 (2010-10-31) (Night Visions Film Festival) November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05) (United States)
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$65 million
Box office	$207,039,043

Due Date is a 2010 American comedy road film directed by Todd Phillips, co-written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, and Adam Sztykiel, and starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. The film was released on November 5, 2010. The film was shot in Las Cruces, New Mexico and Atlanta, Georgia.

Plot

Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) is on his way home from Atlanta to Los Angeles to be present at the birth of his first child, a scheduled C-section, with his wife, Sarah. Once on the plane, Peter learns that Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), who had accidentally run his car through his door is sitting behind him in first class. After inadvertently using the words terrorist and bomb, Ethan has Peter shot by an air marshal with a rubber bullet. Both Peter and Ethan are forced off the plane before take-off.

After being questioned by security, Peter discovers that he has been placed on the No Fly List and will have to find another way to get to California. After realizing that he had left his wallet on the plane, Peter reluctantly agrees to travel with Ethan, an aspiring actor hoping to make it in Hollywood, to Los Angeles. Ethan is on his way to Hollywood after the funeral of his father, and is carrying his father's ashes in a coffee can on the trip. They are going together by a rental Subaru Impreza 2.5i Hatchback.

After stopping in Birmingham, Alabama to purchase marijuana, Peter and Ethan realize that they collectively only have $60 in cash. Peter decides to have his wife transfer him money. Since he does not have his identification card, Peter has his wife transfer the money in Ethan's assumed last name. Once at Western Union, Ethan recalls the fact that the money has been sent to his stage name and therefore not his real name, Ethan Chase, which is on his only government-issue I.D. The Western Union employee (Danny McBride) doesn't accept Ethan's head shot as proof of ID and declines the transfer. Frustrated and on edge, Peter verbally attacks the man who, even though he is a wheel chair-bound veteran, attacks Peter in retaliation, firmly beating him. Peter is at first contemptuous of Ethan, mocking his acting abilities in a highway rest area bathroom, but begins to soften when Ethan actually breaks down because he misses his father.

After spending the night at the rest stop, Peter waits for Ethan to go to the restroom. Once Ethan is gone, Peter empties the rental car of all Ethan's items and steals that Impreza, leaving Ethan behind. The plan almost works until Peter notices that Ethan's coffee-canned ashes of his father are still in the car. Feeling guilty, Peter returns to the rest stop to and acts like he was always going to come back.

Ethan drives while Peter gets some rest. After a while of driving, Ethan falls asleep at the wheel and the car crashes. At a Dallas hospital, Peter, who has a broken arm and three cracked ribs, is picked up by his friend Darryl (Jamie Foxx). Peter reluctantly decides to take Ethan along. Stopping at Darryl's house, Peter discovers that, nine months ago, Darryl and Sarah spent some time together. This information leads Ethan to accuse Darryl of being the possible father of Sarah and Peter's unborn child.

Peter notices that the coffee Darryl made them tastes funny. After questioning Darryl, he reveals that he used the coffee that Ethan had in his car. Realizing that the 'coffee' is really the ashes of Ethan's father, they spit it out. In a panic while retrieving them from the coffee filter, Ethan accidentally spills his dad's ashes all over the floor. This further saddens him. Peter helps him scoop up the remaining ashes and they leave Darryl's house.

Driving Darryl's Range Rover, Ethan smokes marijuana while Peter is dozing, and the smoke collects in the cabin, intoxicating Peter, as well. The two eventually end up at the Mexican-United States border. Ethan flees from the border checkpoint and leaves Peter to be arrested for possession of narcotics. The narcotics were Peter's pain pills from his hospital visit after the car accident. After being taken into Mexican custody, Peter is broken out by Ethan who steals a border patrol truck in the process.

The duo stop at the Grand Canyon where Ethan spreads his father's ashes. Peter confesses that he did try to leave Ethan back at the rest area. Ethan then decides to also make a confession: he has had Peter's wallet since the plane. Peter attacks Ethan in rage. Sarah calls during the attack to inform Peter that her water has broken. Peter and Ethan immediately begin to rush toward California. Along the way, Ethan accidentally shoots Peter with a gun he had found in the truck's glove compartment. Peter does not stop to receive medical attention for his gun shot wound.

Once at the hospital where Sarah is in labor, Peter and Ethan witness the birth of Rosie, Peter and Sarah's healthy Caucasian baby girl, revealing that it wasn't Darryl's baby. Peter passes out in pain from his wounds. Ethan later recounts to Peter that Ethan had assisted in Rosie's birth by cutting the umbilical cord, something that Peter had allegorically envisioned earlier in the film. The two go their separate ways with the promise that Peter will e-mail Ethan to keep their friendship intact.

At the end of the film, Peter, Sarah, and their new baby girl watch an episode of Two and a Half Men, which Ethan has landed a role in.

Cast

• Robert Downey, Jr. as Peter Highman
• Zach Galifianakis as Ethan Tremblay / Ethan Chase
• Michelle Monaghan as Sarah Highman
• Juliette Lewis as Heidi, a pot dealer
• Jamie Foxx as Darryl
• RZA as Airline Screener Marshall
• Matt Walsh as TSA Agent
• Danny McBride as Western Union Employee Lonnie
• Todd Phillips as Barry
• Mimi Kennedy as Sarah's Mom
• Keegan-Michael Key as New Father
• Aaron Lustig as Dr. Greene
• Nathalie Fay as Flight Attendant
• Sharon Morris as Airport X-ray
• Marco Rodríguez as Federali Agent
• Howard Fine as Himself (voice)
• Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper (Cameo)
• Jon Cryer as Alan Harper (Cameo)

Marketing

The first trailer was released July 14, 2010. It was seen with Inception, Dinner for Schmucks and The Other Guys. The international trailer was released on September 2, 2010, and the full length trailer was released online on September 16, 2010. It was shown before The Town, and Life As We Know It.

Previews for the film feature the songs "New Moon Rising" by Wolfmother and the original version of "Check Yo Self" by Ice Cube.

In the film, Ethan expresses his love for the show Two and a Half Men. He also mentions that he started a website called itsrainingtwoandahalfmen.com. As a joke, a website was actually launched with the same name.

Soundtrack

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Hold On, I'm Comin'"	Sam & Dave	2:37
2.	"New Moon Rising"	Wolfmother	3:44
3.	"Is There a Ghost"	Band of Horses	3:00
4.	"People Are Crazy"	Billy Currington	3:52
5.	"White Room"	Cream	5:00
6.	"This Is Why I'm Hot"	Mims	4:14
7.	"Sweet Jane"	Cowboy Junkies	3:35
8.	"Amazing Grace"	Rod Stewart	2:05
9.	"Check Ya Self 2010 (feat. Chuck D.)"	Ice Cube	3:43
10.	"Glaucoma"	Christophe Beck	2:14
11.	"A Good Sign"	Christophe Beck	1:36
12.	Untitled	Christophe Beck	1:19

Reception

Critical response

Due Date received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 40% "rotten", or a 5.6/10 rating, based on 120 reviews. The consensus is, "Shamelessly derivative and only sporadically funny, Due Date doesn't live up to the possibilities suggested by its talented director and marvelously mismatched stars." Metacritic gives the film a "mixed or average" score of 52%, based on reviews from 36 critics.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film two and a half stars out of possible four, noting "The movie probably contains enough laughs to satisfy the weekend audience. Where it falls short is in the characters and relationships." Ebert compares Due Date to the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles but bemoans that Due Date could have learned and offered more.

Box office

Due Date earned $43,478,266 on its first week, placing behind Megamind but was number one in UK for two consecutive weekends. In overall Due Date grossed $97,375,000 (as of December 19, 2010) domestically and $89,800,000 internationally.

See also

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

External links

• Official website
• Due Date at IMDb
• Due Date at AllMovie
• Due Date at Box Office Mojo
• Due Date review at MEAP Careers