Measuring Stick
Late last night an HE reader named Billy wrote that Due Date "played okay" at last night's "packed New York premiere. Not gut splitting. Okay." That was also how it felt during yesterday afternoon's Manhattan press screening, but this, to me, is a secondary consideration. I responded this morning as follows:
You're measuring Due Date, in other words, by the standard of "how big and rollicking is the laughter?" And by that standard, you're not wrong. The big haw-haws don't come every other minute, but there's a lot of "no-laugh funny" stuff in it, and to me that's an excellent thing. The best comedies get you with humor that's concurrently broad and unmissable and interior and smirk-worthy.
I'm measuring Due Date by the standard of novelty and relative bravery. It's dealing comic cards from a fairly dark and calloused place. It's genuinely funny in a way that is obviously not original in terms of the basic template (i.e., strange bedfellows on a road trip, Planes, Trains & Automobiles) but is, I feel, significantly different from other mainstream comedies by way of being meaner. This is not a comedy that believes in man-hugging. At best it believes that others can be tolerated if you work on your attitude and turn the other cheek.
Downey is playing a chilly, highly intelligent dick -- a snide, superior-minded, hostile-attitude type who knows how to be a mensch but doesn't care to let that side of himself out because...well, fuck 'em. And he really commits to that without winking at the audience, and he uncovers aspects and vulnerabilities within this guy that are definitely darker and more intriguing than the kind of thing you usually get in a big-studio comedy like this.
Honestly? Downey's character is a little bit like me during my darker, more defensive moments in the early to mid '90s when I was recently divorced and struggling in a highly competitive Hollywood freelance realm and routinely getting blown off and lied to and told "no" and "sorry, pal" and "eff you" and dealing with all kinds of political pressure from film-industry bigwigs as well as my own editors and dealing with a vodka-and-lemonade problem on top of all that. I had moments of defensiveness and hostility, no question, and I'm very, very happy not to be succumbing to that current these days. Hollywood Elsewhere is a great gig and a great forum -- I'm stressed but very happy these days -- but I remember, I remember...
In short, it ain't the "hah-hah" in Due Date but the "oh, wow...really? A mainstream comedy is going there? Brave." It works because Downey is obviously counterbalanced by Galifianakis, and because Galifianakis is showing a bit more subtlety and a few more colors than he has in previous films, certain more so than in The Hangover.
Incidentally: Here's a negative review by Marshall Fine, who's also judging Due Date by asking "how funny is it?" I say again, quoting the legendary Michael O'Donoghue, that simply "making people laugh is the lowest form of humor."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 2, 2010 at 5:49 AM
comment #1
Travis Crabtree
says ...
And the audience I saw "The Cable Guy" with nearly rioted in anger. ("This movie's weird. It's freaking me out! Where's the funny shit?!")
Cable Guy = hilarious.
("Mr.Show" tanked, too)
Posted by Travis Crabtree
at November 2, 2010 6:07 AM
comment #2
Rashad
says ...
Downey plays a "highly intelligent dick -- a snide, superior-minded, hostile-attitude type who knows how to be a mensch but doesn't care to let that side of himself out because...well, fuck 'em."
Sounds like Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes.
Still I plan on seeing it.
Posted by Rashad
at November 2, 2010 6:07 AM
comment #3
actionman
says ...
second the love for Cable Guy -- priceless stuff.
Posted by actionman
at November 2, 2010 6:24 AM
comment #4
crazynine
says ...
The best comedies get you with humor that's concurrently broad and unmissable and interior and smirk-worthy.
i.e., the best comedies still make you laugh.
I get what Wells is saying, but I don't entirely agree with it simply because Wells uses correct logic-- a comedy can still be very funny if it's not broadly funny, but sharp and witty and "heh" instead-- to make an incorrect conclusion-- comedies that are broadly funny aren't as good as comedies that are sharp and witty, because I said so.
See, I loved The Hangover. A great cast, great Vegas movie, totally fun time on opening weekend in a crowded happy theater. Of course not everyone enjoyed it, but who enjoys everything?
Due Date looks funny. Maybe it's funny heh instead of funny ha-ha. That's okay with me, I can enjoy both, while apparently Wells can't.
Because Jeffrey Wells hates laughter. :-)
Posted by crazynine
at November 2, 2010 6:27 AM
comment #5
ThinWhiteDuke
says ...
I hate laughter at broad comedy as well. I think Galifianakis is a brilliant non-broad comedian and this will be the first of his films I look forward to in any way. Let's hope Mr. Wells is correct and this is enjoyable.
Posted by ThinWhiteDuke
at November 2, 2010 6:48 AM
comment #6
Billy
says ...
"I think Galifianakis is a brilliant non-broad comedian."
Sorry ThinWhiteDuke one thing Wells hasn't admitted is how broad and quasi-fey Galifianakis is playing it here. Dry throw away stuff this aint. The script makes him impossibly dim-witted at some points and gives him no room to play with the deadpan sarcasm he displays in "Bored To Death" for example.
Comedy without laughs can be dark and cool. Or it can just be flat.
Posted by Billy
at November 2, 2010 7:47 AM
comment #7
themodernage
says ...
Just because it's dark doesn't make it good. Brave, sure. Different, yep. But the emotional beats do not connect at all and the film just falls flat.
Posted by themodernage
at November 2, 2010 8:05 AM
comment #8
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Wells to themodernage: You're looking for a certain "emotional beats" comfort thing to happen. It's not doing that. It's doing something else. Something different, weirder, moderately exciting.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at November 2, 2010 9:41 AM
comment #9
CitizenKanedforNappingWells
says ...
Hmmm, fascinating review. Has my interest piqued a bit. I have to admit judging by the trailers, it looked like it was possibly shooting for a goofy, broad comedy without much going on beneath the surface.
So I might see it, but Galifianakis really annoys me (esp. if what Billy says is true -- which is what I suspected).
Third the love for Cable Guy! That's one of the few flicks that doesn't already have a decent special edition with some commentaries that truly deserves one. I'd certainly buy it...
Posted by CitizenKanedforNappingWells
at November 2, 2010 10:00 AM
comment #10
Ray DeRousse
says ...
We have yet to see Galifianakis really use that nasty, flat-edged deadpan of "Between Two Ferns" in a film, and I really wish he would.
Posted by Ray DeRousse
at November 2, 2010 10:43 AM
comment #11
LicentiousMaximus
says ...
Yeah, well apparently no one though Arrested Development was funny either judging from the ratings it got, but it is one of the 5 funniest shows in the history of television. So there's that. I've been scared to watch this film, I've been such a fan of Galifianakis and I'm afraid of him becoming Jack Black but this sounds promising.
Posted by LicentiousMaximus
at November 2, 2010 10:59 AM
comment #12
K. Bowen
says ...
I agree, Jeff.
And I thought it was very funny. A lot funnier than The Hangover. And it doesn't waste any comic elements like The Hangover did.
Posted by K. Bowen
at November 2, 2010 11:38 AM
comment #13
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