Due Date Blu-ray Review

4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Days before his pregnant wife's due date, Los Angeles architect Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is about to fly home from Atlanta when a series of unfortunate incidents land him on the "no-fly" list, forcing him to hitch a ride across the country with slacker Ethan (Zach Galifianakis). As Peter desperately tries to get home, he must deal with Ethan's laid-back attitude, numerous delays and several mishaps in this road trip comedy. (Buy Now $15.99)

Starring:

Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis, Danny McBride

Director:

Todd Phillips

Blu-ray Release Date:

Feburary 22, 2011

Subtitles:

English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

• Subwoofer - 4.0 Stars
• Dialog - 5.0 Stars
• Surround Effects - 3.5 Stars
• Dynamic Range - 3.5 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

Usually comedies don't have much to offer in the audio department, which is pretty much the same here with a few small exceptions. There are a few car wrecks and chases that sounded pretty good. They gave the subwoofer some action but it wasn't dynamic or forceful enough for me to be impressed. A scene in a dinner and in the hospital featured some nice ambient sound but overall surround effects were not used much. However what is important here is dialog, and it sounded clear and concise on this blu-ray. Every silly and stupid thing Galifianakis says is never muddy or overshadowed by other sounds.

Video  4.8 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

• Color Accuracy  - 4.5 Stars
• Shadow detail - 5.0 Stars
• Clarity - 5.0 Stars
• Skin tones - 5.0 Stars
• Compression - 4.5 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

This blu-ray has superb video performance. The detail is amazing, you can see every hair on Galifianakis' bellybutton, all the stubble and age on Downy's face, and marvel at the deep dark forest that is Galifianakis' beard. There are several dark scenes and they are handled without many compression issues. The color is also fantastic, all hues are lifelike and the film does not seam to lean to a particular color tone.

Bonus Features 2.5 Stars (out of 5)

All the special features total a time count of 16 minutes, which really isn’t that special.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 minutes): Three extended / deleted scenes.
• Gag Reel (HD, 7 minutes)
• Too Many Questions (HD, 1 minute): A quick montage of strange questions Ethan asks Peter.
• Action Mash-Up (HD, 1 minute): Short montage, of film's action beats.
• The Complete Two and a Half Men Scene (HD, 3 minutes): Ethan's full appearance on the show
• BD-Live Functionality

Movie - 2.5 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Remember that Steve Martin and John Candy movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"? Well this is the more updated and edgy version of it. Starring the famous funny/serious actor and the overweight awkwardly funny actor of the moment. An since this movie is an edgy rated "R" comedy, it needs to be crass and contain lots of curse words. In fact, one scene in particular is so unrealistically crude and sexually charged it was hard for me to look past it and find the good in the characters.

This film isn't that bad, in fact I found myself laughing more than I thought I would. If you're in the mood for a couple of laughs this might be the film for you. I really liked Downey's character in the movie. You hate him in the beginning but by the end he changes a little and you kind of warm up to him. However, it was hard for me to like Galifianakis' character. He had a good performance, but his character is so inhumanly stupid and awkward the only thing you can feel for him is pity. It makes it very difficult to believe they sort of become friends along the way.

Due Date Trailer