You need a special talent like John Hughes to find creativity amidst a torrent of clichés. The premise is simple, ancient and grossly overused but "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" is so uproariously funny that I'd chuck all the bygones right out of the window and delve into a bucket of popcorn and invest into this hoot of a comedy. Hughes has always been one of my favorite filmmakers, a productive artist of his time and a virtuoso of movies on teenage angst. No matter how hard my day was, I'd just watch a John Hughes movie to cheer myself up because he knows how to do it better than anyone else.
We open in New York City two days before Thanksgiving. Neal Page (Steve Martin), a compulsive snob and a marketing executive, yawns through a meeting with his bosses. He's desperate to make a flight he's late for so that he could spend Thanksgiving with his family. He been told that he'd 'never make it', a challenge he takes on only to have a cab that he has paid for being stolen from right under his nose. Neal's a frustrated exec, he wears neatly-cut suits that compliment his grave demeanor. Martin's perfect cast as Neal. He can play a dignified working-man in one frame and an angry elitist in the other. That's what happens when he has his cab nicked. The culprit is Del Griffith (John Candy), a traveling salesman who sells shower-rings, who apologizes profusely to an incensed Neal later on when they meet on the flight. He wants to make up for it, Neal would rather be left alone.
But Del doesn't give up easily. He's talkative, friendly and he wants to declare a truce. Neal doesn't want to be friends. But, as fate would have it, a blizzard prevents them from reaching Chicago, where they're headed, and they land up in Wichita instead. Del offers to book a room for Neal for the night. Neal doesn't have a choice, he agrees. And from there on, a series of misadventures and mishaps occur when they try to get home as soon as they can and by any means possible.
"Planes, Trains And Automobiles" would never have worked if it wasn't for its characters. Hughes often makes the characters count in his movies, an example of which can be found in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and it's no different here. Del could be a character that could prove to be irksome if spent too much time with but here he's nothing short of charming. He's immensely affable, like his genial laugh that's disarming, and Candy plays him accordingly. In the scene where Neal ticks him off for being boring, annoying and distracting, Candy's magnificent. He radiates a feeling of hurt but emphatically states that he likes himself for being the person he is. Marvel at how expressive he is in that one scene, when his face falls, I couldn't help but applaud the skill he showed. Martin's elucidation of Neal Page is a triumph, he earns our solicitude though he's rash with Del, and never once loses the character. Both Candy and Martin sneak into the skin of their characters like water in soil and they make a hell of a team.
The writing is subtle, supremely funny and often insightful. The jokes keep pelting, the one-liners are winning and the craft is exceptional. My favorite sequence in the movie is when Neal and Del steal a bus-ride and catch a young couple in the heat. The sequence is naturally evocative, prompting loud guffaws at the goofiness of the whole comical situation. The movie's loaded with sequences like this and every single one of them is rational. Somehow, that makes it funnier still.
There is nothing really wrong with "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" except for the fact that it's very predictable and repetitive. You can guess at the very beginning how it's going to end though when Hughes actually gets there, you don't want it to. And may I add that Hughes pulls off one of the most moving endings I've witnessed in the recent spew of films.
Candy and Martin are terrific in their respective roles. They end up adding the zing that the movie direly required to make a somewhat implausible plot work by playing the characters who mingle with us and stay with us long after the movie ends.
"Planes, Trains And Automobiles" is unapologetically a wholesome crowd- pleaser that never stops being delightfully goofy and captivating. Consistently hilarious and frequently touching, it's the best film of its kind I've had the pleasure to watch. It's also one of the better comedies I've seen in a long time, one that does justice to the genre. I can't remember the last time I had laughed out so loud.
We open in New York City two days before Thanksgiving. Neal Page (Steve Martin), a compulsive snob and a marketing executive, yawns through a meeting with his bosses. He's desperate to make a flight he's late for so that he could spend Thanksgiving with his family. He been told that he'd 'never make it', a challenge he takes on only to have a cab that he has paid for being stolen from right under his nose. Neal's a frustrated exec, he wears neatly-cut suits that compliment his grave demeanor. Martin's perfect cast as Neal. He can play a dignified working-man in one frame and an angry elitist in the other. That's what happens when he has his cab nicked. The culprit is Del Griffith (John Candy), a traveling salesman who sells shower-rings, who apologizes profusely to an incensed Neal later on when they meet on the flight. He wants to make up for it, Neal would rather be left alone.
But Del doesn't give up easily. He's talkative, friendly and he wants to declare a truce. Neal doesn't want to be friends. But, as fate would have it, a blizzard prevents them from reaching Chicago, where they're headed, and they land up in Wichita instead. Del offers to book a room for Neal for the night. Neal doesn't have a choice, he agrees. And from there on, a series of misadventures and mishaps occur when they try to get home as soon as they can and by any means possible.
"Planes, Trains And Automobiles" would never have worked if it wasn't for its characters. Hughes often makes the characters count in his movies, an example of which can be found in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and it's no different here. Del could be a character that could prove to be irksome if spent too much time with but here he's nothing short of charming. He's immensely affable, like his genial laugh that's disarming, and Candy plays him accordingly. In the scene where Neal ticks him off for being boring, annoying and distracting, Candy's magnificent. He radiates a feeling of hurt but emphatically states that he likes himself for being the person he is. Marvel at how expressive he is in that one scene, when his face falls, I couldn't help but applaud the skill he showed. Martin's elucidation of Neal Page is a triumph, he earns our solicitude though he's rash with Del, and never once loses the character. Both Candy and Martin sneak into the skin of their characters like water in soil and they make a hell of a team.
The writing is subtle, supremely funny and often insightful. The jokes keep pelting, the one-liners are winning and the craft is exceptional. My favorite sequence in the movie is when Neal and Del steal a bus-ride and catch a young couple in the heat. The sequence is naturally evocative, prompting loud guffaws at the goofiness of the whole comical situation. The movie's loaded with sequences like this and every single one of them is rational. Somehow, that makes it funnier still.
There is nothing really wrong with "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" except for the fact that it's very predictable and repetitive. You can guess at the very beginning how it's going to end though when Hughes actually gets there, you don't want it to. And may I add that Hughes pulls off one of the most moving endings I've witnessed in the recent spew of films.
Candy and Martin are terrific in their respective roles. They end up adding the zing that the movie direly required to make a somewhat implausible plot work by playing the characters who mingle with us and stay with us long after the movie ends.
"Planes, Trains And Automobiles" is unapologetically a wholesome crowd- pleaser that never stops being delightfully goofy and captivating. Consistently hilarious and frequently touching, it's the best film of its kind I've had the pleasure to watch. It's also one of the better comedies I've seen in a long time, one that does justice to the genre. I can't remember the last time I had laughed out so loud.