Seeing how this is the third year I’m doing a Thanksgiving-themed movie review, I will review a classic John Hughes movie that is right to see around this time of the year. Ah, John Hughes. He was definitely innovative of his time to release a handful of movies that have been loved or hated by people, but then again, who hasn’t? Well enough of that, let’s get to today’s review.
The tortuous journey that is got on in John Hughes’s 1987 classic, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” is supposed to go from New York to Chicago, but its final destination is surprising. The two traveling friends, Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (the late John Candy), do actually make it to the Windy City, but they also arrive at the place where confidences are made, insecurities are expressed and friendships are created.
You don’t have to be a fan of Hughes’s teen leaning films to know that these are not normally the worries of middle-aged traveling businessmen. Janet Maslin mentioned in her review, “However, Mr. Hughes conceives of this film's adult characters as lost adolescents, and seems to regard their mature status as a terrible burden that they will, with luck, be able to shed. So Mr. Martin, in the film's earlier sections, is the epitome of corporate stiffness, doing most of his acting with his cheek muscles and bristling murderously when someone steals a taxi from him at rush hour.” The film is not in anyway comfortable with this exaggerated version of grown-up store than it is with the misplaced, confessional goodness that forms its conclusion.
The real trouble with “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” is simpler: there wasn’t much of an idea here to begin with, and when Hughes works with non-teenage characters he has smaller stores of spoken humor upon which to make. It’s harder to have one man complain that traveling with the other is “like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll” than it would be to have a teenager say that line. None of Hughes’ earlier films have focused around anything more complicated than prom dates and parent troubles and becoming friends with classmates, but they had a surface and accuracy that “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” lacks.
Martin and Candy are an easy duo to watch even with small material, though, and the film is never worse than slow. Actually, it’s even promising at first, with the bound-for-trouble promise of a quick trip home for Neal Page, who phones his wife, played by Laila Robins, to tell her he’ll be there by 10. Maslin mentioned, “As a blow-by-blow anatomy of a horrid traveling experience, replete with flight cancellations, snowstorms and unscheduled detours, ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' has great potential, but it begins to meander once Neal and Del become a reluctant duo. Neal detests the loud, tirelessly jolly Del on sight.” However, fate makes them share a plane ride, a frustrating taxi trip and even a bed.
Maslin said, “The great, embarrassed flurry of man-talk with which these two leap out of bed the next morning is indeed funny, and the film does have its scattered moments.” However, too often, the audience has as every reason as Del and Neal do to question where, if anywhere, they are going.
I saw this movie for the first time yesterday and I fell in love with this movie after I had finished watching it. This movie easily makes one of my favorite comedies that I will watch whenever I get the chance, even if it is or isn’t around the Thanksgiving time. Now, if you haven’t seen this movie, you have to, especially if you are a fan of John Hughes, Steven Martin, or even the late John Candy. Maybe you might be a fan of one, two, or maybe even all three of them. Whatever the case might be, you have got to see this movie because you will be laughing a lot and really feeling happy and sad when those parts come up.
Happy Thanksgiving online readers! I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving dinner and will be watching some good Thanksgiving-themed movies along with it. Stay tuned tomorrow for the finale of “Hunger Games Month.”
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