Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Planes, Trains and Galiafianakis Due Date (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS For the first 30 minutes or so it is hard to understand why Due Date (100 minutes) deserves an R rating. Sure, there’s some language and a reference to marijuana, but I’ve seen more adult-oriented fare with a less prohibitive MPAA rat- ing. And then came the scene with the dog. After that scene, I can safely assert that Due Date earns its rating and then some. If you attempt to take your children to see the film, once the two lead characters decide to sleep in their car, send the kids for some popcorn. Quickly. Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) is quickly estab- lished as a career-focused guy preparing for the birth of his first child. He is a little nervous about the big event, but he assures his wife Sarah (Michelle Monahan in an extremely ill-advised dye job) that he will arrive on the West Coast in plenty of time for the blessed event. Everything is going according to plan when he runs into (well, actually, vice versa) Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis). As we all know, when strangers meet each other in an airport their lives are entwined from that point on. Peter and Ethan wind up traveling together. Exactly how that happens makes sense only in movie land, but we’ll go with it in the name of comedy. Once the set-up is complete, Ethan, Peter, and Sunny the dog end up plotting their cross-country road trip over waffles. Gross, doughy, greasy, half-frozen Waffle House waffles. To which Ethan is apparently allergic. Ethan insists on a brief stopover in Birmingham so he can visit an alternative-medicine type pharmacist (Juliette Lewis) for his glaucoma medicine. During their visit Peter spends some time physically abusing a few chil- dren, but I’m sure that doesn’t imply anything about his future child raising skills. The trio are ready to settle in for the night after a long day of driv- ing. They realize that their funds are limited and head to the nearest Western Union. The clerk (Danny McBride) is as cold and greasy as the waffles, but very capable of delivering a beat down, one more in a series for Peter. They sleep in the car at a strangely empty rest stop. Despite leaving the car running long into the night and having nearly empty wallets their magical car seems to have zero problem running on what must be an empty gas tank and a dead battery. Soon after they start the day’s drive, the three end up in Texas hospital. Peter finally does what anyone else would have done from the start, and calls his best friend Darryl (Jaime Fox). Despite having zero awareness of the backstory, for some bizarre reason Darryl insists that Peter make things right with Ethan. This results in the two staying together for the rest of the road trip. It seems like a real shame to waste an actor of Jaime Fox’s caliber in non-meaningful cameo such as this one, especially when he exists only to set up a joke that wasn’t funny any of the millions of other times it has been used either. The movie gets increasingly tasteless, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a funny road movie buddy flick. It may be derivative, and it may come off as a less offensive Farrelly Brothers movie, but it is definitely worth watching. The only real problem is in the number of Two and Half Men references. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com 24 UCW NOVEMBER 24-30, 2010 Dr. James Classen Dr. Leo Davidson If you are 100 lbs. or more overweight and want more information about bariatric surgical options (including gastric bypass, lap band and other procedures) please attend our upcoming educational forums: Wednesday, December 8th Wednesday, January 19th at 6:30 p.m. Cape Fear Valley Education Center For an appointment with Doctors Classen or Davidson or to reserve a seat at our FREE educational seminar, please call 910.323.2626 1841 Quiet Cove • Fayetteville, NC 28304 www.villagesurgical.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM When It Comes To Weight Loss Surgery, You Have Options. When It Comes To Helping You Choose, And Information. We Give You Options f Village Surgical Associates Has Been Named An American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence