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. "It took you one 'Hangover' to get this big?! It took me years of rehab!" PARKING PARKING AVAILABLE 665-8825 FOR RENT 4 ELEVEN LOFTS is now leasing for 2011- rates from $660. 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