- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Portuguese, Spanish
- Rating: R
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + DVD+ Digital Copy)
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- Blu-ray Release Date: February 22, 2011
- List Price: $35.99
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004I9SJFW[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Due Date on Blu-ray+DVD+ Digital Copy Combo Pack at CD Universe
Also available on Amazon Instant Video
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis must be the mismatched comedic duo of the year in this hit and miss road comedy from director Todd Phillips (Old School; The Hangover). To say they make an awkward pair onscreen would be an understatement. The movie itself is a hodgepodge of road movies we’ve seen before, even ones from Todd Phillips, so that it inevitably slips into the mundane very early into its run.
The setup is this: Peter Highman (Downey) and Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) literally run into each other at the airport when Ethan’s car smashes into Peter’s, taking his door off. The two get off to a bad start right away. Then, the two men are thrown off the airplane by an air marshal after they get into an argument over using the term “terrorist.” When he realizes he can’t find his wallet and he has no cash, Peter is forced to catch a ride back to L.A. in a rental car with Ethan so he can get back in time for his wife (Michelle Monaghan) to give birth.
Along the way, all sorts of bad things happen – like the two men getting beat up by a disabled man in a check cashing place and they become fugitives from the law in Mexico. Meanwhile, as you may have guessed since this is a “buddy” flick, the two guys who started out hating each other start becoming friends. The trouble with that is, when you have a buddy flick, you should like at least one of the characters, and both of these guys are pretty despicable in their own right. I wouldn’t want to be friends with either one of them.
That’s not the only thing that hampers the film. Downey seems a bit uncomfortable playing the straight man against Galifianakis’ typical druggie antics and the laughs are far too spaced. The film alternates between sometimes funny, sometimes absurd, and mostly dull and derivative.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
There aren’t any big explosions, elaborate CGI effects or fancy lighting to show off the splendor of high definition in Due Date. Instead, what you get in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement is a typical comedy image, with a more realistic looking and bright picture. Unfortunately, Due Date’s picture is a bit inconsistent, at times looking very clean and sharp and other times looking a bit soft with a jump in grain level. Flesh tones are also little pushed, looking too reddish at times.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
There’s nothing special about Due Date’s 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It is a typical comedy mix that isn’t too aggressive and doesn’t make much use of the subwoofer. It does have clean dialogue and some low-level atmospheric sound effects that liven things up just a bit, but it won’t move to the top of any lists as an audio reference.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
The supplements consist basically of deleted and extended scenes, all in HD, along with a gag reel that isn’t really very funny at all.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- The Complete Two and a Half Men Scene Featuring Ethan Tremblay (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:03.02)
- Deleted Scenes (2.35:1; 1080p/24; 0:03.55)
- Gag Reel (2.35:1; 1080p/24; 0:06.31)
- Due Date: Too Many Questions (2.35:1; 1080p/24; 0:00.41)
- Due Date: Action Mash-Up (2.35:1; 1080p/24; 0:00.30)
- DVD
- Digital Copy — for Mac/PC and iPod/Windows Media-compatible portable devices
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:2.5/5]
There have been far better road movies than Due Date, such as Todd Phillips’ own The Hangover. Due Date may be worthwhile only for a slow weekend rental.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004I9SJFW[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Due Date on Blu-ray+DVD+ Digital Copy Combo Pack at CD Universe
Also available on Amazon Instant Video
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
