Due Date Is Comedy For The Angry

"You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself"

· 4 min read
zach and robert adoring a french bully puppy

Due Date is about two men getting to know each other on a much more personal level than they could have ever predicted.

Due Date is for those hot-heads who want to blow off steam by laughing over how ridiculously funny these characters are when they are put through the trial of traveling together across the country.

Those who are short-tempered are sure to relate to Robert Downey Jr's character as he plays the day-to-day working-class man who just wants to reach home and see his wife while being poked and prodded with annoying conversations and situations that only divert him from his one goal throughout the movie.  

Ethan Chase is a menace

Two men fighting each other

The character of Ethan Chase is played by the legendary actor, Zach Galifianakis, mainly known for his role as Alan from The Hangover trilogy.

We follow Ethan Chase and Peter Highman throughout the film as they travel together to reach Hollywood.

The reason why Ethan Chase is a menace is due to his dirty tactics of attempting to make a friend and have company throughout the journey to Hollywood.

He keeps Peter's wallet all to himself which would have easily allowed him to not only withdraw as much cash as he would need for the trip but also a mode of transportation that he could use other than Ethan's car.

Not only that, Ethan Chase creates unnecessarily ridiculous situations on the fly.

An example would be him visiting a waffle house while being fully aware of his allergies to waffles.

Another example would be Ethan crossing the border of Mexico while high from smoking marijuana and landing both of them in very serious legal trouble.

In short, this man is designed to blow the fuse of any normal person he would be accompanying, making him the perfect tool to trigger anger in anyone within his vicinity.

Peter Highman represents normalcy

A frustrated RDJ tolerating Zach

The character of Peter Highman is played by none other than Robert Downey Jr, famously known for his role as Iron Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We follow Peter tag along with Ethan in hopes that he will help him reach Los Angeles within time to witness the birth of his child.

Throughout Due Date, we relate to Peter's endless suffering when he meets Ethan Chase.

Peter silently endures all of this with hints of sarcasm here and there unaware that Ethan will be the reason he will not be able to fly to Los Angeles.

The man still had to sponge up all of his frustration and swallow it as Ethan offers him help when there is no other option of getting to see the birth of his child in time.

As any person does in a time of desperation, he accepted the devil's hand for help.

We witness him have headaches, concussions, injuries from a car crash, and a gunshot.

We see a man breaking down to his very core and giving up any hint of pride as he has no other choice but to suck up every insult he has for Ethan.

Until he reaches his breaking point and completely loses his temper, twice.

It is quite a satisfying scene to see Ethan get what is coming to him and witness Peter let out all of his pent-up frustration.

In short, Peter Highman is designed to be the most relatable character in the entire movie so that the audience can feel his frustration getting built throughout the movie to witness it explode on Ethan.

Menace turned into a savior

a man driving a car

With Zach Galifianakis's character being such a punchable person due to his annoying nature, one may not expect the character to even have somewhat of a redemption story.

Ethan Chase does a lot of mishaps and the majority of them end up hurting Peter in the process who is literally the most innocent bystander in all of this.

However, it is the fact that Ethan does not do any of these actions out of ill intent, in fact, he actually believes that he is actually helping Peter grow out of his shell of pride when he is in fact destroying it entirely.

It is the fact that none of his actions are intended to hurt Peter and the fact that he always rescues Peter from the blunders he puts him through that makes his character somewhat redeemable.

One of the few things that makes him the most redeemable would be the fact that he helped patch up Peter as much as possible before he could see the birth of his child taking place.

Something a true friend would do without thinking twice.  

Comedy driven by anger

2 tired men walking a french bully pup

As everyone who has watched this film will know, Due Date is a gold comedy movie driven solely by the element of anger.

Ethan angers Peter, and Peter angers others in the process, and the others act on this unjustified anger and thus the scene began.  

Due Date is a masterpiece of a movie that is highly recommended for those with a short temper.

There is a high rate of success that they will not only relate to it but also learn from it at the same time as they laugh at the legendary duo traveling cross-country.