“See It”

DUE DATE could be dismissed as just another “odd couple, “buddy,” “road-trip” movie, but it is much more than that.

It is a very funny, often laugh-out-loud movie about two men forced to travel across the southern United States in order to meet separate deadlines, but I have a feeling that men will enjoy it much more than women will.

However, everyone can enjoy the talent of the two actors who play those two men: Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakas, who portray Peter and Ethan, respectively.

Peter is an architect, Ethan is an actor wannabe, and the story begins in Atlanta, where they have an unfortunate, but funny encounter at the airport departure curb.

Then they have another funny, but unfortunate encounter before takeoff on the same airplane to Los Angeles, and it just keeps getting better as it goes on.

Due Date MoviePeter and Ethan end up in a rental car and in a hurry to get to California, because Peter’s wife is about to have their first child and Ethan has a scheduled meeting with an agent.

Peter doesn’t want to share the road trip with Ethan, but is forced to, because as Ethan tells him, “I have all the money, the car, and the winning personality.”

Peter and the audience will agree on two of those reasons.

However, Ethan also has a dog traveling with him; glaucoma, which causes a side trip to buy some medical marijuana; and the ashes from his recently deceased father, which he carries in a coffee can.

Unfortunately, Ethan spends almost all his money on the weed, and now they are left with only $60 between them, and they have reached only Birmingham, Alabama.

There is a very funny scene in which they try to get some money wired to them from Peter’s wife; an even funnier scene in Dallas where they stop for help from Darryl, an old friend of Peter’s played by Jamie Foxx; and a scene that tops them all when they accidentally try to cross the border into Mexico, which ends fantastically hilarious.

When they reach the Grand Canyon, where they stop to satisfy Ethan’s wishes, they swap confessions in a touching scene until Ethan reveals the biggest confession of them all, and then we have one final mad dash to meet their . . .

DUE DATE. See it.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”