6 - Friday, November 12, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
'Date' Is due for some innoVation
Galifianakis and
Downey Jr. aren't
challenged on screen
By KAVI SHEKHAR PANDEY
Daily Film Editor
Hollywood has this terribly
frustrating tendency of jumping
on whatever is
fresh, popular
and exciting and W
riding it relent- Due Date
lessly until it
collapses, left At Quality16
sprawled out and and Rave
wheezing in the Warner Bros,
carpool lane of
Sepulveda Boule-
vard. "Transformers" was a global
smash, so they cranked out the
craptacular "G.I. Joe: The Rise of
Cobra," another movie based on a
Hasbro action figure. And Michael
Cera killed it as a meek, virginal
teen in "Superbad," so they had
him rework the same character in
"Nick and Norah," "Year One" and
more.
"Due Date," the new film from
Todd Phillips ("The Hangover"),
is yet another example of this, as
it's nothing more than an attempt
to piggyback on the popularity of
its two lead actors. The world was
treated to the miraculous emer-
gence of two actors over the past
few years: Robert Downey Jr., who
pulled his face out of a mountain
of cocaine and reclaimed Holly-
wood stardom with his endlessly
sarcastic performance in "Iron
Man," and Zach Galifianakis,
who was plucked from his career
of bizarre stand-up routines and
minor supporting roles to become
an overnight sensation with his
performance in "The Hangover."
The two were cast in "Due Date"
to play their divergent comedic
styles against each other, but the
movie fails precisely because it
forces the audience to watch them
play the exact same roles they
always do. In this movie, Downey
Jr.'s character is a mild variation of
Tony Stark as he spits out snarky
dialogue and Galifianakis once
again acts as a man-child who says
and does socially frowned-upon
(read: disgusting) things.
Even the greatest joke in the
world isn't as funny the umpteenth
time you hear it, and watching
"Due Date" shows how quickly
novelty can fade. Galifianakis was
uproarious in "The Hangover"
because his blend of non-sequiturs,
slapstick and deadpan delivery
had never been seen before. Simi-
larly, audiences were blindsided by
Downey Jr.'s samurai sword-sharp
wit in "Iron Man" that has since
become as dull as a butter knife
after "Iron Man 2" and "Sherlock
Holmes." The freshness of their
portrayals has faded away and the
audience is stuck with their same
old shtick for the entire movie.
And it doesn't help the film that
the plot is a complete clone of the
1987 classic "Planes, Trains and
Automobiles," another road-trip
movie in which a high-strung
businessman is forced to travel
across the country with an eccen-
tric fat guy he can't stand, plowing
through a series of unfortunate
events to make it home for Thanks-
giving - becoming fond of his trav-
eling partner along the way. Just
replace "Thanksgiving" with "the
birth of his first child" and you
have the story of "Due Date."
The characters are recycled and
the plot is a duplicate, but "Due
Date" is not a complete waste of
time. Much-needed cameos by
RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Juliette
Lewis ("Conviction") and Danny
McBride (TV's "Eastbound and
Down") are spread intermittently
throughout the film and break the
constant barrage of Downey Jr.'s
clever cynicism and Galifianakis'
outrageous stupidity.
The movie works extremely
well when it decides to pause for
a handful of sentimental scenes
- coincidentally, this is where
Downey Jr. and Galifianakis's get
to break character and have intel-
ligent, moving discussions, act-
ing like actual human beings for a
change.
Despite all the criticism,
Downey Jr. and Galifianakis do
provide some quality laughs and
"Due Date" is definitely a lot fun-
nier than most movies out there.
But it deserves a harsh scolding for
acquiring such tremendous talent,
reprocessing characters and story
ideas, serving it up to the audi-
ence and calling it Lamb Vindaloo.
Lamb Vindaloonit is not.
PLACEBO
From Page 5
worked on several other musical
projects, but this is by far the most
exciting."
With a completely original musi-
cal, the directors wanted to focus
on the story instead of creating an
elaborate set design or costumes.
"The audience (has the responsi-
bility) to create the scenery in their
mind," Abosch said. "It basically
revolves around one staircase piece
that will turn in various ways to
reveal the different locations."
Besides testing the limits that we
as people will cross to pursue what
we want, the musical also address-
es themes of naivety and testing
fate.
"The theme of the placebo, really
is ... the idea that ignorance is bliss..If
you think something is real, it might
as well be real," Abosch explained.
"It's kind of an interesting theme
when you think about what would
you do if you hada pill that could do
anything? Would you even take it?
Maybe it's better to not even mess
with that."
With the scarcity of student-
written musicals today, the Base-
ment Arts audience will be treated
to a notable experience, according
to Abosch.
"The idea of an original musical
is rare even on Broadway - every-
thing these days are adaptations
from books or movies or plays,
and the original musical is some-
thing that's not as often done any-
more," Abosch said. "No one has
ever heard this story before, and
the idea that we're able to tell this
story through music in its original
form, I think is a really cool oppor-
tunity."
REAL THING
From Page 5
difference in the RC Players's adap-
tation. Whereas the play originally
takes place in 1980s-era England,
the RC interpretation sets its char-
acters as Americans in New York.
In doing so, FitzGerald said he had
to shift the script to westernize any
"British-isms."
FitzGerald does not feel that
any of these minor changes, which
were employed to scale back pro-
duction and eliminate the poten-
tially difficult teachability of a
British accent, sacrifice Stoppard's
vision, saying that "all the core ele-
ments are still there."
FitzGerald hopes to impart an
overarching message upon audi-
ences.
"I want people to think about
their current relationships, their
past relationships, even what hap-
pens in the future," FitzGerald
said. "And kind of wonder about
the connections being made, and if
they are the'real thing.'"
JOIN DAILY ARTS, PLEASE
E-mail join.arts@umich.edu for on applying.
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RELEASE DATE- Friday, November 12, 2010
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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"Roem and By Dan Naddor
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7 510 Catherine $3700
7 1129 White St $4200
6 412 N. Thayer $3600
6 418 N. State $3500
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6 605 E. Hoover $3720
6 716 E. Kingsley $3400
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4 809 Sybil $2240
4 812 E. Kingsley $2300
4 827 Brookwood $2400
4 927 S. Division $2240
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