From the director of the epic screwball comedy-“The Hangover” comes another great comedy that seems to be inspired by one of my all time favourite comedies-“Planes,Trains and Automobiles.”
Zach Galifianakis as Ethan (retained from “The Hangover”) is a man-child who is going to LA to pursue his dream of being an actor and Robert Downey Jr. as Peter is an uptight architect soon to be a dad.They make an unlikely pair for a road trip but circumstances force them to travel together from Atlanta To L.A. and what ensues is a comedy of errors.
They meet outside the airport as Ethan’s friend smashes the door off Peter’s limo. Following a current trend of taking a swipe at extremely jittery airports security they are thrown off the flight and put on the No-Fly list for just using the words ‘bomb’ and ‘terrorist’ even though Peter warns Ethan not to use them.
Having left his wallet in his luggage Peter is forced to travel with Ethan and discovers to his horror that Ethan has his dad’s Ashes in a coffee can. After some exasperating instances with Ethan he tries to ditch him but his conscience forces him to come back for him.
Lines like -My dad was like a father to me and the dog masturbation scene (how the hell did they train a dog to do that when commanded?) were really hilarious.The pot dealer(‘Herbal medicine practitioner’) and Peter’s friend who’s very close to his wife provide interesting cameos.
One of the funniest ,yet really tragic ,incidents from the movie is when they drink Ethan’s Dad’s Ashes as coffee and to calm him down Peter says he had a strong flavour!!
The movie has many side-splittingly funny( ROFL for the internet addicted) moments and good acting.The sequence with the Mexican border police where an unintentionally baked(stoned for the uninformed) Peter is rescued by Ethan being one of them.
Where it loses out is the fact that such comedy has been attempted before.
I would recommend a one time watch as it is a great destressor and guarantee you’ll come out smiling from the hall but don’t expect it to be as good as ‘The Hangover’.
