GRADE: B+

 .

Directed by Todd Phillips

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis, Danny McBride

Rated R for language, drug use and sexual content.

Running time: 95 minutes

Flush from his success on “The Hangover”—the most successful R-rated comedy of all time—director Todd Phillips has reteamed with breakout star Zach Galifianakis for another hilarious comedy that pushes the bounds of discrimination and good taste. While distinctly less raunchy (and correspondingly less outrageous) than “The Hangover,” “Due Date” still manages to deliver (pun intended).

Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a high-strung, type A control freak who likes everything done his way, and just wants to get from Atlanta to L.A. as quickly as possible for the imminent birth of his firstborn child. Ethan Tremblay is a newly permed dandy who carries around a French bulldog, the ashes of his recently deceased father, and a dream of becoming an actor on “Two and a Half Men.” When a misunderstanding leads to the two men being placed on the no-fly list and the loss of Peter’s luggage, I.D. and credit cards, the two opposites begrudgingly agree to drive the 2,000 plus miles from Georgia to California together. Naturally, things go from bad to worse to worser to worsest.

In many ways, “Due Date” is patterned after the road pictures of yesteryear. But Philips has taken it one step further by converting Bob Hope and Bing Crosby into the “Odd Couple’s” Felix and Oscar—two men at each other’s throats for almost every mile of the cross-country odyssey. Scratch that—“Due Date” is pretty much just a revamped, raunchier version of the classic “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” in that the nomadic irritation is completely one-sided (while John Candy and Galifianakis’ Ethan seem almost immune to irritation, Steve Martin and Downey Jr.’s Peter find textbook comic foils to their tightly wound personalities).

Downey and Galifianakis play off of each other marvelously. While Peter is nearly always in some state of peevish agitation, you can tell Downey is having the time of his life. He brings the perfect mix of sardonic black humor and treacherous unpredictability. Galifianakis’ Ethan Tremblay is oblivious, uncouth and categorically dangerous. Tremblay, it turns out, is just a made up stage name. He should have gone with Murphy, because wherever Ethan goes, Murphy’s Law follows (though, for the purposes of comedy, it seems to skip him and affect only those with whom he comes in contact). Sure, Ethan means well, but then again, plenty of walking time bombs mean well. Ethan is to disaster what a black hole is to, well, everything around it. Peter really should know enough to steer clear, but under that high-strung, desperately in need of an anger management course exterior beats the heart of a softie. In fact, both men are given moments to drop their comic guards and let their humanity shine through. In Downey’s case, it counterbalances his mean spiritedness and in Galifianakis’ case, works to leaven an overgrown man-child role that could very easily have slipped into inaccessible caricature. Galifianakis creates just enough sympathy to win over both Peter and the audience.

Often the most outrageous moments in “Due Date” turn out to also be the most poignant. The film contains not just hilarity and high jinx, but also heartbreak and pathos. The death of Ethan’s dad is counterbalanced by the birth of Peter’s child. While this sentimentality may restrict the film to fickle and inconsistent hilarity, it also makes it a richer and more rewarding viewing experience.

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