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Are We There Yet?

"If there's a hell, I'm already in it," deadpans Robert Downey Jr. in "Due Date", a road trip comedy co-starring Zach Galifianakis ("The Hangover"). While the film may not be damnably bad, it's certainly stuck in comedy purgatory. Like the proverbial road trip, "Due Date" is an idea that sounds like a lot of fun, but ends up lost on a side road, reeking of beef jerky and Jolt cola burps. As befitting a Todd Phillips film ("Old School", "The Hangover"), "Due Date" contains the requisite quantity of ridiculous mishaps and crude humor, but it's a joyless slog that makes you glad when the journey's over.

"Due Date" pairs well-meaning but oblivious Ethan (Galifianakis) with tightly-wound Peter (Downey) as mismatched car mates. We meet Peter as he's about to fly to Los Angeles for the birth of his child. A run-in with the hapless Ethan gets both men booted from the flight and put on a no-fly list. Unfortunately, Peter's wallet and I.D. have flown without him, leaving him no choice but to accept Ethan's offer to drive him to L.A.

Ethan is practically tailor-made to grate on Peter's last nerve. He's a walking sight gag, from his "permed" hair to his Lillith Fair tee and vest, barely covering the belly hanging over his tight acid-wash jeans. An aspiring actor heading for Hollywood, Ethan runs a "Two and a Half Men" fan site and travels with Sonny, a French bulldog with onanistic tendencies. While lacking acting ability, he has an uncanny knack for courting disaster and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. If only the rest of the film were as well-developed as Ethan's quirks.

Pairing Galifianakis' sweetly earnest buffoonery with Downey - the Gatling gun of caustic one-liners - seems like a comedy no-brainer. What promised to be an updated version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", proves to be an exercise in frustration. Galifianakis lets the costume do most of the work, while Downey merely sputters bug-eyed in exasperation. For every good gag (of which there are maybe three or four), there are dozens of throwaway jokes and abrupt sentimental about-faces that stop the film from picking up any comedy steam. Cameos from Jamie Foxx, Danny McBride and Juliette Lewis appear like run-down roadside attractions: They break up the monotony of the trip, but are quickly forgotten down the road. Like the characters, the film can never seem to get where it needs to go.