Review of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) by M W — 18 Jun 2011

Had this guy sitting on my shelf for a few years and never bothered. The story is so familiar because so many road trip, unlikely pair, and other comedy movies since it have ripped off so many of it's specific gags but I thought this had a feeling of sincerity that it's copycats don't. I thought Steve Martin and John Candy really put good acting into their performances instead of treating it like "just a dumb comedy." There was a lot of nuance in their gestures and facial expressions that you just don't get from today's comedies.

I enjoyed a few scenes in particular like when Neal(Steve Martin) finally blows up on Del (John Candy) about his odd personality. I also really liked when he blew up at the woman at the rental car place. This movie could have been G rated right up until that scene at which point he shoved about 12 F bombs into one sentence. It was so refreshingly shocking, it was great and of course the line "if I wanted a joke I'd follow you into the bathroom and watch you take a piss." The vulgarity catches you off guard, which is what makes it funny. When an entire movie is nothing but dick jokes you become jaded to it and it stops making you laugh.

Their friendship development feels genuine based on their actions rather than simply because that's what the script needs to happen. The ending I found predictable but it had that late 80s/early90s wholesome white America charm to it. (Yea I know that's a little bit racist but all I mean to say is nostalgia.) All around classic, memorable and simple yet effective.

The one thing I'll say I didn't like at first is that they kind of paint this portrait that Neal is a hardass business man and he can really learn a lot from Del who just goes with the flow and is overall much happier. But I didn't get the impression that Neal was being unreasonable at any point in the film. I always felt bad for him that he was stuck with this idiot and so down on his luck rather than feeling good about him loosening up and being more like happy-go-lucky Del who appears to be blessed by some Hollywood karmic force because he is friendly. So I thought the direction the movie was heading was that Neal was going to learn from Del to quit being so uptight and then he'd be happier.

However in the end, if anything, I think Del actually learns a lot more from Neal about not being so annoying, and the fact that he really isn't a successful guy with a family after all shows that maybe his stupidity has not actually brought him the cliche good fortune and naive childlike bliss generally alluded to in movies but rather he is alone and homeless. So we never had to deal with that contrived character arc. Rather it's Del who opens up and changes.

Simply because Neal realizes how much fun he's had with Del and since he realizes he's not such a bad guy after all, and he was probably only so annoying because he's so sad and lonely, he welcomes him into his house to meet his family and presumably become lifelong friends. This shows, not necessarily that he's become more accepting of strangers because of his time with Del, but that he was actually a nice guy all along.

It added another dimension to the movie that made it more than just a few scenes with a few jokes in each leading up to a conclusion. It was kind of sad. It shows a lot of depth in both characters. And the fact that a lot of the preconceptions made in the beginning of the movie turn out to be lies adds a whole other interesting psychological subplot.

Listen, it's not the Godfather, but they put a lot more effort into this than most comedies. This is only a comedy because it has funny parts in it, not because it has a lazy cliche script and 1 dimensional in your face clown type characters. Even if you didn't find the gags funny, you could still enjoy the plot, the performances and the message. How many recent comedies can that be said of? Comedies today just feel like long versions of sketch comedy show skits. A basic premise chosen only because "hilarity" is very likely to "ensue" and not at all because it contains a good story.