Todd Phillips might not qualify for "auteur" status, but the director of such dude-centric hits as 'Old School' and 'The Hangover' has nonetheless been churning out dependably funny features for more than a decade. To celebrate the opening day of 'Due Date,' his latest comedy, we look back on scenes from other Todd Phillips movies that deserve induction into the comedic canon.
10. THE WRONG DOUG
'The Hangover' (2009)
From Mike Epps' deadpan-desperation delivery of the line, "I'll be your Doug," to Zach Galifianakis' description of the real Doug as "a white," every beat of this desert-nowhere scene is a laugh-getter. And then there's Ken Jeong as Mr. Leslie Chow -- an unforgettable bit character who, best we can tell, is what you get when the teenage houseboy setting off firecrackers at the end of 'Boogie Nights' grows up and sucks down a helium balloon.
9. PARKING TICKET FACE-OFF
'School for Scoundrels' (2006)
The mere sight of Jon Heder's mug suggests loserdom. But to send the point home in efficient fashion, the movie opens with his meter-man character, Roger, ticketing a thug's ride, then pathetically attempting to flee the scene in his Cushman auto rickshaw. The icing on the cake comes when the tough's buddy taunts him and calls him "little ticket man."
8. "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET MARRIED FOR"
'Hated: G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies' (1994)
Phillips' first film was a documentary chronicling the life and music of hardcore punk artist G.G. Allin, who died of an overdose a few days after 'Hated' was completed. The entire 50-minute endeavor feels infused with laconic humor throughout; perhaps that's why a brief exchange among Allin's hometown buddies, reminiscent of a Henny Youngman one-liner, provides the doc's sole knee-slapper. As one friend wonders aloud why someone like Allin would "beat your own head in," another retorts, "That's what you get married for!"
7. THE BEST MAN SPEECH
'Old School' (2003)
In a movie crowded with hilarious, high-concept and/or lowbrow set pieces -- Blue's funeral, the cheerleading/dance routine, the cement blocks tied to the frat members' members -- one of the most refreshing bits of humor is an underappreciated Luke Wilson saying this: "True love is hard to find. Sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double-team your girlfriend."
6. SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT GETS "MILKED"
'Road Trip' (2000)
Many male fantasies involve a nurse; few hinge on rubber-gloved digits roughly massaging the prostate. When such a fate befalls Scott's snarky character, E.L., at a sperm bank, the uncontrollable whinnies and neighs that cascade forth from his 'O' face are priceless.
5. SHIRTLESS PHISH FANS
'Bittersweet Motel' (2000)
Back in his documentarian days, Phillips followed '90s jam band Phish for a year, culminating with The Great Went, a two-day music festival in Maine. There, the camera alights upon a tent full of douchebags -- identically outfitted in jeans, baseball caps, sunglasses and no shirt -- who pontificate with equal authority on the THC content of kind bud, the fundamentals of shotgunning Bud Ice, and the fact that girls who drive Jeep Cherokees, "their pits are shaved, obviously." One of them, meanwhile, brags that he "ripped up here in my Rabbit from Massachusetts."
4. WILL FERRELL GOES STREAKING
'Old School' (2003)
This is quite likely the most recognizable scene Phillips has ever directed; even people who've never seen 'Old School' get the reference when you drunkenly bellow, "We're goin' streaking!" Often and criminally forgotten, however, are Ferrell's lines that bookend the scene: first encouraging Don "Magic" Juan to "bring your green hat" on a group streak, then asking his mortified wife, who finds him trudging solo down the street in the nude, "Honey, d'you think KFC is still open?" (Also, Ferrell's midsection paunch is always funny.)
3. "BECAUSE IT'S YOUR DOG"
'Road Trip' (2000)
A discussion of cheating loopholes (e.g., if you're too drunk to remember the sex, if you're cheating on two girls at the same time) abruptly hairpins into John Waters-esque territory when the dweeby Kyle (DJ Qualls) offers up his own (NSFW) rule: "It's not cheating if you spread peanut butter all over your testicles and let your dog lick it off." His subsequent justification -- "Because it's your dog. You know, because it's your dog" -- sets up friend Rubin (Paulo Costanzo) for the best offhand rejoinder of the flick: "No, yeah, yeah -- we got it."
2. MIKE TYSON SINGS PHIL COLLINS
'The Hangover' (2009)
Everyone and their profanity-loving grandma heard about Iron Mike's cameo in 'The Hangover' before it hit theaters. But thanks to a tight, twist-laden script, audiences still got sucker-punched by the pudgy pugilist's big reveal: As groomsmen Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis tiptoe back into their Caesars Palace villa fearing a bare-knuckle brawl with the tiger they'd found in the bathroom that morning, what they find instead is a pumped Kid Dynamite (the tiger's rightful owner), air-drumming and off-keying his way through 'In the Air Tonight' -- and who then, true to form, lands a hard right cross on Galifianakis' bearded jaw.
1. FRANK THE TANK TAKES A DART IN THE NECK
'Old School' (2003)
And with that, we come to what is arguably the funniest scene in what is generally considered to be Phillips' funniest film. The tranquilizer gun's perfectly timed release, Frank's lumbering descent towards numbness, Seann William Scott's mullet, Vince Vaughn's clown get-up, the simultaneous feelings of delight and dread when the camera cuts to the kids singing "Happy Birthday" -- and it all leads up to a sly parody of 'The Graduate.' Brilliant.
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