"For the most part Due Date is pretty funny. A lot of this boils down to the comic timing of Downey Jr and Galifianakis, who share a great chemistry, with both equally at home with the laughs as they are with the film's emotional notes. It's a bumpy ride, but Due Date is a road movie trip worth taking." Matt Neal THE STANDARD "Less raunchy than Hangover, but still edgy, mature. Simultaneously as imperfect and as maddeningly funny as director Todd Phillips' previous comedy, The Hangover, Due Date is a coup." S. Jhoanna Robledo COMMON SENSE MEDIA "Phillips squeezes a lot of comedy juice from the odd couple pairing and, even with a few flat moments, the film shows a remarkable ability to keep hitting its sweet spot." Jason Di Rosso ABC MOVIE TIME "Since making the funniest mainstream comedy of the last five years in The Hangover, expectations have been running high as to what the director Todd Phillips would do next. This odd-couple road comedy is: how to put it?; adequate. As in, perfectly OK." Anthony Quinn INDEPENDENT "Zach Galifianakis, the bearded man-child from Phillips's last comedy, The Hangover, is paired with Robert Downey jnr at his twitchiest, and he's been given a mandate to irritate. Phillips's talent lies in the comedy of embarrassment and while this isn't quite up to the standards of The Hangover, it's not a bad example. It's a picaresque disaster movie in comic mode." Sandra Hall SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

"Playing like an amped up, frat-house version of the classic 1987 John Hughes buddy comedy Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis totally click in this very funny, rough-edged odd-couple road movie bromance. It's a tough double act, but the film pulls it off with great confidence and some major laughs." Jim Schembri THE AGE "Downey and Galifianakis make for a truly marvelous collision of opposites, and their interplay is what elevates 'Due Date' above its often puzzlingly flat material." Thomas Leupp HOLLYWOOD.COM "Zach Galifianakis is so funny in "Due Date," even the way he wears his shoes (Capezios) is a scream." Chris Hewitt ST PAUL PIONEER PRESS "It has Robert Downey Jr. in a comic role, which is a fine use of his incredible talents." Matt Soergel FLORIDA TIMES-UNION "Due Date ain't The Hangover. But it is a decent Leftover." Robbie Collin NEWS OF THE WORLD "It's not as funny as The Hangover, nor is the screenplay nearly as good, but there is an appealing sense of the ridiculous. Downey Jnr adds a splash of class to this road movie with buddy themes." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "The Hangover was one of the most original and entertaining comedies of recent years. By comparison Due Date is much more conventional, a buddy comedy road trip that recalls 1989’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy (was Steve Martin’s last funny film that long ago? Wow). Due Date is uproarious fun and comfortably holds its own alongside its Steve Martin forebear." Henry Fitzherbert DAILY EXPRESS

The Inside Story "It's a simple idea: two mismatched guys forced to go on a road trip together," declares "Due Date" director and co-writer Todd Phillips. Robert Downey Jr is Peter Highman, an architect on his way back to L.A. from a business trip in Atlanta. He's on a tight schedule because his wife is expecting their first child and the date is all set. Everything is fine until he gets tangled up at the airport with a wannabe actor named Ethan Tremblay, who somehow gets the both of them booted off the plane and grounded for the foreseeable future. "If there really was somebody like Ethan around, he‘d have been strangled in his sleep long ago," Downey attests. "He‘s like a laser beam that focuses on the one thing that will drive you crazy the most, the kind of guy who will eat a whole plate of waffles before mentioning he‘s allergic to waffles. I‘m sure a lot of people know someone like this, someone who is perfectly wired to activate all of their irritation buttons. Granted, Peter has a short fuse to begin with. .He‘s kind of an edgy, controlling, judgmental guy with some anger-management issues. And who better to help him explore those issues than Ethan Tremblay? High-strung as he is normally, Peter is now facing the birth of his first child and is thrown into this nightmare, so it‘s all amped up," Downey adds. Ethan, by comparison, gives new meaning to the term laid-back. Zach Galifianakis, who stars as the human lightning rod for trouble, observes, "Nothing affects him, no insult seems to penetrate. Ethan lives in his own head. He has no talent, and he‘s on his way to Hollywood to capitalize on that. These two guys meet through a series of unfortunate circumstances that are entirely Ethan‘s fault, to which he is completely oblivious. And every bad thing that happens from that point on is Ethan‘s fault. Everything." Phillipsnotes, "People always cite chemistry in these kinds of movies. They say it‘s the chemistry between the two lead actors that make it work. I believe what makes "Due Date" work is anti-chemistry; it's two guys with zero connection and zero rapport, constantly butting heads, that generates both the tension and the comedy." Dan Goldberg, who has produced all of Phillips's feature films since their 2000 collaboration on the hit comedy "Road Trip", says, "The ride develops its own momentum as one thing after another happens to impede their progress. At the same time, their cross-country trek takes Peter and Ethan on another, more unpredictable journey than what they face geographically: one that leads them to discover as much about themselves as each other. Provided that they survive it." Scott Budnick, an executive producer on the film, says, "There‘s real emotional substance to the story and real issues, and Robert and Zach do a phenomenal job in delivering both the humor and the emotional stakes. My favorite comedies are always the ones that have heart." As infuriating as Ethan can be, Phillips concedes he has his good points, citing "honesty, innocence and a humanity that makes you connect with him and root for him despite it all. Ethan is a complex character. He has just lost his father, who was his best friend, and is having a tough time dealing with that. There‘s an underlying desperation in everything he does and an eagerness to please to the point where just making friends means trying too hard." "A lot of what he does is to avoid being lonely," Galifianakis ("The Hangover") says. Peter, on the other hand, may come across like a self-assured, aggressive control freak but, says Phillips's "Due Date" screenwriting partner Adam Sztykiel, "You sense that his behavior comes from an emotional place and from issues he has yet to work out, that are revealed in the story. Not far beneath the alpha male posture is his own vulnerability and how terrified he is to be responsible for a child." "As a parent," Downey offers, "I know the big question is how are you going to manage and protect something that you have no experience with?" Playing on that theme were screenwriters Alan R Cohen and Alan Freedland, who also have story credit on the film. "Peter‘s comfort zone is when he‘s in control. And everything that happens in this movie is about losing control; from his inability to get back home to the larger issue of his impending fatherhood and whether or not he‘s ready for it," Cohen says. "We wanted to put him into a situation where he had to travel across the country with someone who was effectively a child," adds Freedland. Executive producer Susan Downey recalls: "When I read the script, I was moved. It‘s so funny and yet so human. You want a comedy to have that grounding, in the way that you want a drama to have some humor." Despite the 'anti-chemistry' Phillips had in mind for their characters, Galifianakis and Downey generated some genuine positive chemistry from the start. Downey Jnr ("Sherlock Holmes" & "Iron Man") vividly recalls their first meeting. "I was in Venice, California, and some weird guy walks by and says, 'Hi, I think I‘m doing a movie with you.' Later, he came over for dinner so we could talk about the script. I asked if he had any dietary restrictions and he sent me a note detailing everything he'd need, like bottled water flown in from Barstow. It‘s one of my favorite things. I read it to people at parties." "We kind of took care of each other on the set: very different from what was going on in the movie. We‘d talk every morning about how to make a scene work. It was great. Funny how hanging out with a legitimate actor raises your game," Galifianakis recalled. In "Due Date", Galifianakis ("Dinner For Schmucks" & "Up in the Air") creates a character that calls for a great deal of subtlety. "Every little nuance of personality and each detail: the way he walks, the way he talks, the way he thinks; Zach has figured out how Ethan Tremblay would do these things and it‘s reflected in every single moment he's on screen," Budnick notes. "Zach brings a sense of spontaneity and danger and I think comedy is best with an undercurrent of danger so that you never know exactly what‘s going to happen or what someone will say or do. In that sense, he‘s the perfect comedic actor," says Phillips. Downey, Galifianakis, Phillips and Sztykiel "took the script apart and put it back together," says Goldberg ("Evolution"). "Every day there were new things that touched me and made me laugh. I believe "Due Date" audiences will see aspects of Robert and Zach that they haven‘t seen before and things that will surprise them. As a filmmaker, I'm always looking for that." "I start every day thinking here‘s what will happen if you do it by the book and here's what can happen if you bend yourself over backwards and forwards again and try to invite the unimagined into the situation. The set had energy like a living being; it was evolving all the time. And what's great and so funny about Todd is that sometimes, with him, it‘s so wrong, it's right," says Golden Globe winner Downey Jnr (1994, 2001 & '10), who was born in Greenwich Village, New York City. That point of view resonates with Galifianakis. "As a stand-up comic, I love it when audiences laugh before they realize maybe they shouldn‘t have, and then start to question themselves. That‘s not to say that you can‘t be offended by something Todd or I do in a film," he continues with mock concern. "I'm often offended by the things I do in movies." To help facilitate that, "Due Date" features a stellar supporting cast of characters who offer Peter and Ethan a range of memorable and often thought-provoking encounters along the way. The first of these is Heidi, a freelance medical supplier with questionable parenting skills, tracked down by Ethan at her Birmingham home to restock his supply of 'glaucoma medication'. It‘s one of many detours that takes them miles out of their way. Heidi is played by 1994 Venice Film Festival's Pasinetti Award winner Juliette Lewis ("Natural Born Killers"), in her third screen role for Phillips (the others being "Old School" & "Starsky and Hutch"). Lewis was touring in London with her band when the director called. "We worked it out so that between London and Helsinki I made a pit stop in a place I didn‘t even know existed: Las Vegas, New Mexico; for a couple of days, to play a pot dealer," Lewis recounts. .When Todd calls it‘s a game of trust. I don‘t know the role, I don‘t know what he wants me to do, but I know it‘s going to be good and it‘s going to be funny." Oscar ® winner Jamie Foxx ("Ray"), who recently starred with Downey in "The Soloist", was cast as Peter's old college buddy, Darryl, who now lives in Dallas, Texas. "Darryl comes into the picture to do these guys a favor and it‘s all great: until it‘s not. Then things get very weird, very fast," Foxx says of the scene that lands Peter and Ethan back on the pavement. "Working with Robert, Zach and Todd, you'd never know what to expect, but you could always count on it being a crazy, creative, collaborative experience." The two travelers also run afoul of an ill-tempered Western Union clerk, played by Danny McBride ("Pineapple Express" & "Up In The Air"); a paragon of Airport Security, played by Grammy Award-winning hip hop producer/musician and actor Rza who played Moses Jones in "American Gangster"; and an exceptionally indifferent TSA agent, played by Matt Walsh, the ER doc from "The Hangover." Meanwhile, back home anxiously awaiting Peter‘s return is his wife, Sarah, played by Michele Monaghan ("Gone Baby Gone"), who reunites with Downey Jnr for the first time since they teamed in the acclaimed 2005 comedy thriller "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". "Sarah is just about eight months and twenty nine days pregnant with her first baby and obviously very anxious," Monaghan, who appeared with Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible 3" offered. "Her husband is not only MIA but is also traveling cross-country with a wild man whose only concern is if she has any recommendations for someone who could give him a perm! Clearly, the baby's arrival looks more promising than daddy's." In fact, Peter has another travelling companion: a French Bulldog named Sonny, who becomes the pair's third wheel and a point of calm amidst the escalating mayhem. The role of Sonny, though indisputably male, was played almost entirely by a young female Frenchie trained by Mark Harden, of Boone's Animals for Hollywood. The introduction of a dog into the script came about as Phillips sought to further ratchet up the tension between his two leads. After perusing renowned animal trainer Boone Narrs company website, he spotted what he was looking for in Bodie, an adult male French Bulldog with the big ears and wide-eyed comical expression typical of the breed. Unfortunately, Bodie was too heavy to be constantly toted around on one arm. Harden then launched a full-scale and very specific search for a slightly undersized French Bulldog. He first tried the rescue agencies, then tapped into a nationwide network of breeders before finding someone who had a full-grown female weighing in at fifteen pounds. What It's All About

Peter Highman is an excited and expectant, first-time father, whose wife‘s due date is only a few days away. As he hurries to catch a flight home to Los Angeles from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry: the vehicle he is travelling in is involved in a crash right in front of the terminal's entrance. This chance encounter with aspiring actor and disaster magnet, Ethan Tremblay, eventually leads to the two of them being tossed off the plane and placed on a no-fly list. Disasterously his luggage, wallet and ID take off without him. Grounded, with no other alternatives in sight, a desperate Peter is forced to accept a ride with Ethan and his canine traveling companion on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip into hell. One that'll destroy several cars, numerous friendships and sorely test Peter's patience. But, with his wife facing a 'C Section', Peter can't bail out.

The Verdict "I have to admit that, despite my taste for quirky, inane humour, I did, for much of the films first half, feel like I was being constantly being beaten around the head by a large wet fish. Thast's because not all the comedic moments gel. But then, after persevering, I and (judging by their reation) others in the audience were treated to a plethora of hilarity. What had previously felt a little tiresome and yes, irritating, suddenly became exceedlingly, bousterously funny. Whew! What a relief that turned out to be. For everyone connected with the production, filming "Due Date" was in fact, a road trip in itself. Location shooting began in and around Atlanta and moved generally westward with the story, touching upon Dallas and the Texas interior and various locations in New Mexico, including Las Vegas and Santa Fe, which the filmmakers covered from a base of operations in Albuquerque, before moving into California. The disappointments of the first half are blown away by an extremely funny second half. Like Paul Hogan and Michael Caton, Robert Downey Jnr and Zack Galifianakis (pronounced gal uh fuh NAK uss) make 'Strange Bedfellows', but their pairing works. Director Todd Phillips makes an appearance alongside Juliette Lewis (Iron Maven in Drew Barrymore's 2009 directorial debuter, "Whip It") and Galifianakis in a scene involving the purchase of 'pharmaceutical goods' Ethan uses to treat his 'glaucoma'. If only the first half had been better! WALA 3 STARS." Who's Playing Who?

Robert Downey Jr Zach Galifianakis Michelle Monaghan Jamie Foxx Juliette Lewis Danny McBride RZA Matt Walsh Brody Stevens Jakob Ulrich Naiia Ulrich Todd Phillips Bobby Tisdale Sharon Morris Nathalie Fay Emily Wagner Steven M Gagnon Marco Rodríguez

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Peter Highman Ethan Tremblay Sarah Highman Darryl Heidi Lonnie Airport Screener TSA Agent Limo Driver Patrick Alex Barry Carl Airport X-Ray Flight Attendant Flight Attendent Air Marshall Federali Agent

The Production Team Directed by Todd Phillips Screenplay by Alan R Cohen/Alan Freedland/Adam Sztykiel/Todd Phillips Story by Alan R Cohen & Alan Freedland Produced by Daniel Goldberg & Todd Phillips Original Music by Christophe Beck Cinematography by Lawrence Sher Film Editing by Debra Neil-Fisher Casting by Juel Bestrop & Seth Yanklewitz Production Design by Bill Brzeski Supervising art director Shepherd Frankel Art Direction by Desma Murphy & Clint Wallace Set Decoration by Danielle Berman Costume Design by Louise Mingenbach Run Time 100 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Village Roadshow Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.