A road trip romance with spitting.

Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is a serious architect who does not know how to relax and “go with the flow”. That’s the lesson he must learn in DUE DATE, Todd Phillips new movie. Coming from the huge success of Phillips’ THE HANGOVER, which made a huge star of Zach Galifianakis (I loved Fat Jesus), DUE DATE is a road trip romance with spitting and a dog.

Galifianakis – who shot to fame carrying a baby – now carries a masturbating dog. His character, delusional hopeful actor Ethan Tremblay, also is a masturbation pro. But where were the tissues?

Peter and Ethan meet improbably. I guess the four credited screenwriters – Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel, and Todd Phillips – could not come up with an even semi-realistic device to get these two together.

Peter is a smart guy with a caste mentality. His wife is due to have their first child. Why in the world would he agree to get into a car with homeless Ethan once they find themselves stranded at an Atlanta airport?

As soon as Ethan thrust his big, hairy belly into Peter’s face on the plane, Peter should have opted to walk home. Through Ethan’s plan for company, Peter is taken off the plane with him and put on the no-fly list. With no money or ID, Peter must travel across the country with Ethan and his pug Sonny.

Improbable things happen without consequences. Peter gets beat up by the sensational Danny McBride. They walk away from a horrific car crash. They escape from Mexico, destroying a police station.

All the while, falling in love.

As with any movie romance, there are tears, masturbation, and spitting. (As an untrained, non-licensed Freudian analyst, just saying…when a director puts more than one spitting scene in a movie, you must consider he is either reliving a childhood trauma or a sex practice he’s addicted to.)

Thank goodness Downey has the good sense to play it straight all the way – until the “I love you dude” moment. It was creepy.

Galifianakis has enormous cinematic goodwill – even if he has demonstrated how powerful he is by booting Mel Gibson out of a measly one scene in THE HANGOVER 2 – by playing characters without an agenda or guile. Why did he give his character such a funny walk? Where can Galifianakis’s career go? Will he lose weight, shave his now-signature beard and demand romantic lead roles? You know it’s coming. And so will the dramatic parts, the music career, and the children’s books.

Galifianakis already has shown he can wield power. Let’s hope he never does a stupid thing or Mel’s vengeance will befall him.

DUE DATE is a disappointment.

More than the rave notices I was hearing about the film, I was intrigued by statements to the effect that it was not only intelligent, but it wasn’t catering to the toilet humor intrinsic to comedies of the decade, the likes of Judd Apatow’s KNOCKED UP, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, SUPERBAD, YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, etc. Making it more like, say, SCHOOL OF ROCK, which had been the best comedy of 2003.

I missed it in the theatres, but was eager to catch up with it on DVD. Since I never watch trailers, and my friends know to keep plot descriptions to a minimum, I was unprepared for the second act. Yes, all I’d heard was true: it’s intelligent, and it rises above the current penchant for toilet humor. But no one had informed me about the surrealism. Act two is like something out of a Keaton film. More Magritte than Dali, piling on the inconsistencies of a lost night of possible debauchery, and involving us in the plight of three friends who’ve lost their fourth buddy, and haven’t a clue where he might be, what might have befallen him, and what has befallen them all. And we don’t get everything entirely clear until the end titles roll – the best end title sequence of the year, by the way.

So THE HANGOVER is refreshing, and also extremely clever in its plotting. Its screenplay resembles no other comedy script since the millennium, and if I were hard put to make a comparison, maybe I’d say GROUNDHOG DAY…? Todd Phillips (THE HANGOVER 2, natch) directs, from a screenplay (which his direction much improves on), by Jon (GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST) Lucas & Scott (FOUR CHRISMASES) Moore. Christopher Beck is credited with Original Music, but it’s the wonderfully chosen pre-existing songs that are memorable and make their scenes move so gloriously. I’m not familiar with Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zack Galifianakis or Justin Bartha, but they’re fun together, and Galifianakis in particular grows more and more hilarious as the film progresses and we adjust to his off-kilter delivery. Always great to see Heather Graham, still breath-takingly gorgeous at 38 (and she shows one nipple).

The unrated version’s dialogue track drifted out-of-synch on one monitor I showed it on, and it got worse as the film progressed. On a second monitor it was fine. I don’t know what to think of that.

I loved Fat Jesus. A comedy that’s funny and naughty. This is a franchise. Mike Tyson has a career in movies!

Director Todd Phillips delivers! I have lived in Las Vegas for over 10 years and it is a party town – but only for tourists. With Las Vegas gleefully known as “Sin City”, the residents are offended by the tag, so crackdowns and restrictions are bountiful. Try getting a Vicodin prescription from a doctor! No one sells pot on The Strip. Where is the “hooker’s track” in Las Vegas?

We do have the largest billboards for strip clubs in the United States.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in two days, so his friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) and his future brother-in-law Alan (future star Zach Galifianakis) decide to splurge on a bachelor party in Las Vegas. They take Alan’s father’s vintage car and off they go to a $4,000 suite at the Palms Casino Resort. I know the Palms well, going there several nights a week.

The last thing the three of them remember is a celebratory drink on the roof. When they wake up the next morning there’s a tiger in the bathroom, a baby, and $100,000 of damage. Oh yeah, and Doug is missing.

Phil has a hospital tag on his wrist and Stu is missing a tooth. Saying anything more would ruin this movie for you.

Cooper is terrific (and can deliver a line) and frankly, it is clear that director Phillips has a wonderful light touch. The character of Alan could have been Jack Black obnoxious but instead, it is a gently-tuned highlighted performance. Helms is ideally cast and Mike Tyson is hysterical. The screenplay by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore is perfect, with all the question marks effectively answered.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Dimension Films present a Riche-Ludwig/Weed Road/Red Hour production of a Todd Phillips movie
Running time — 100 minutes / MPAA rating: PG-13

Okay, here’s my problem. I’m burned out on Ben Stiller. He’s in everything. I spotted him in the bar in LOST IN TRANSLATION and as one of the sailors under Jack Aubrey’s command on the HMS Surprise. He was Captain Jack Sparrow’s lover in THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and, I’m told by someone who saw an advance screening of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, he is one of the Jews in the crowd yelling: “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!” I’m afraid to go to sleep worried he’ll turn up in my dreams.

Stiller is not taking any chances waiting for roles. He takes every role offered to him. Maybe he’s being blackmailed by the Russian Mob. And another film teaming him with Owen Wilson? I’ve grown tired of their “chemistry.” I’m happy they like each other and want to spend months together making films. How nice for them, but why not just go on a quiet, secluded vacation by themselves?

All this bias in front of me and I liked STARSKY & HUTCH. Maybe it was all the homosexual horseplay.

Frown-faced Detective David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is reluctantly partnered with “Bend the Rules” Detective Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson (Owen Wilson). On their first day together they come across a dead body in the Bay. Hutch wants to push the corpse down towards another police precinct and let them handle it. Starsky follows police procedures. He is excitable, tense, and knows his laws.

The dead man crossed drug dealer Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn) who has found an inventive way to transport cocaine. Starsky and Hutch’s investigation take them Hutch’s chief informant Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg) that leads them to prison where they interview Feldman’s kinky gay chemist (Will Farrell).

STARSKY & HUTCH is all about Stiller. Thankfully, Wilson subdues his overdone mannerisms (the pursed lips, the drag-on dialogue, the silky voice) and stands aside as Stiller hams it up doing freaked-out shtick. The direction, by Todd Phillips, is messy and slipshod. We kept noticing the boom and scenes are set up without regard for the positioning of the actors. The back of heads is often in the forefront of the shot. Yes, it is a mess, but somehow it works.

The carelessness seems intentional. It is part of the silliness.

Screenwriters John O’Brien, Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong (with story credit going to Stevie Long and John O’Brien) do not tax themselves or wring their hands over an original script. If only murder, mayhem, and police work were this easy in real life! I guess there is enough Starsky and Hutch buried in our collective unconscious for this franchise to work.

Vaughn and Farrell are always perfect in roles that are tailored to them. They know exactly how to play their scenes maximizing all the attention. They are both big men and know how to use their physicality to their advantage. Jason Bateman, I’m a big fan of “Arrested Development”! Now, I hate to admit it, but Snoop Dogg has a natural, easygoing charm that translates well to the screen. I know encouraging him will only mean he’ll be doing a Broadway play next, starring in TERMINATOR 4, or producing/directing/starring in a romantic comedy.

Credits:
Director: Todd Phillips
Screenwriters: John O’Brien, Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong
Story by: Stevie Long, John O’Brien
Based on characters created by: William Blinn
Producers: William Blinn, Stuart Cornfeld, Akiva Goldsman, Tony Ludwig, Alan Riche
Executive producer: Gilbert Adler
Director of photography: Barry Peterson
Production designer: Edward Verreaux
Editor: Leslie Jones
Costume designer: Louise Mingenbach
Music: Theodore Shapiro

Cast:
Detective David Starsky: Ben Stiller
Detective Ken Hutchinson: Owen Wilson
Reese Feldman: Vince Vaughn
Kitty: Juliette Lewis
Huggy Bear: Snoop Dogg
Police Capt. Dobey: Fred Williamson
Staci: Carmen Electra
Holly: Amy Smart