Movie Review: "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (1987)

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Movie: "Planes, Trains & Automobiles"
Director: John Hughes
Year: 1987
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Neal Page (Steve Martin) just wants to get home to see his family for Thanksgiving. The universe doesn't seem to want to make this happen for him. He is foiled at every turn, from missing cabs to delayed and re-routed flights, from no available rental cars to trains breaking down, he just can't seem to catch a break. With all this going on, he has become to unwilling partner of Del Griffith (John Candy), an overly friendly but extremely annoying travel companion. Del just wants to be friends with Neal and to help him find his way home, but often seems to do more damage than good. Neal would rather be rid of Del and go it alone, if it wasn't for him actually needing Del's help from time to time.

It's just not Thanksgiving without this movie. In fact, there really aren't that many movies revolving around Thanksgiving, like so many other things in life which have been consumed by Christmas.

This is one of the funniest movies to come out of the 80's. The dynamic between Steve Martin and John Candy is nothing short of brilliant. Two fine comedic actors doing what they do best is just twice the fun! The scene where Steve Martin drops the f-bomb about 20 times is just so, so good, and truly encapsulates what all of us are thinking at some point in our lives. Isn't it just a secret fantasy of yours to unload a barrage of f-bombs at someone?? No??? Okay...disregard then! ;)

Each and every thing that goes wrong gets equally as funny and outrageous as the movie progresses. This is not just a silly comedy, though, it also has massive amounts of heart. You truly feel bad for Del and for his life, but you also want to strangle him because is such a pain in the ass! And you really want to strangle Neal, too, because he just doesn't seem to see that Del only wants to help. This film does an amazing job of connecting its characters with the audience because these characters are so well developed that you actually feel for them and feel their pain.

This is one movie I reeeeeeeeeeeeally hope Hollywood doesn't attempt to remake because it's basically perfect the way it is. There is so much tenderness and love and soul and hilarity in this movie that it would be truly tragic if it were remade and changed. STAY AWAY, HOLLYWOOD.

My Rating: 9/10
BigJ's Rating: 9/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!