Review of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) by Chris M — 06 Aug 2013

Writer-director John Hughes' 1987 comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a typical buddy road trip comedy, but it is one that is done fairly well. Anyone who has seen a bunch of road trip movies in their lifetime will not find much here that is surprising per se. However, the execution of this particular road trip movie is worthy of appreciation from fans of such a film genre. Of course, I am not just saying this because there are two worthy comedic leads to pull it off, but there is also quality storytelling and jokes in this film as well.

Steve Martin plays an everyday businessman on a business trip in New York who is trying to get home to Chicago and return to his wife and kids in time for Thanksgiving. However, a traveling salesman (John Candy) constantly keeps getting in his way through an assortment of difficult, unfortunate circumstances that keep occurring unexpectedly. Whether it's through accidentally stolen cabs, flights being cancelled due to the weather, or anything of that sort, he somehow keeps getting screwed in funny and spectacular ways. On top of that, he always seems to end up sticking with this guy on his longer-than-usual trip to Chicago.

Basically, this businessman is undergoing the commute from hell. What should have been a simple two hour flight becomes an unimaginably complicated three day extravaganza. It's not like the guy he's accompanied by is mean or anything. In fact, he seems to be a pretty nice guy, but this businessman just has no patience talking with him especially in a time like this when all he wants to do is get home safely. But as the traveling nonsense keeps continuing, these two eventually start to learn more about each other as well as start to respect each other and who they are as people.

What makes Planes, Trains and Automobiles stand out from all the other road trip comedies out there is its execution. In other words, the best way to sum up this appropriately named comedy is that it is everything that could possibly go wrong with traveling of any kind during the holidays particularly Thanksgiving. The inconvenient situations that make this businessman's trip back home get progressively worse and worse all have phenomenal comedic timing.

The way this story progresses is also great since we can identify with the unbearable circumstances this guy is going through, especially if we have had traveling troubles before in our lives. I know I had an unfortunate flying experience not too long ago, my first time flying alone as a matter of fact, where I arrived to my destination five hours late. Anyone who has been through situations like the one I've experienced recently will appreciate this film's storytelling since it acknowledges how tough traveling has sadly become.

Having said all that, while I do acknowledge that this is a well-crafted film, I would not yet say that it is a great film. Even though I did laugh plenty of times, I guess I just expected to have a couple more laughs than what I actually got. Additionally, although Martin and Candy are good in their roles, their relationship is pretty easy to predict where it will go which in turn sort of prevents the chemistry from being natural. Overall, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a lot like The Odd Couple (1968) in that it is a buddy comedy that is good, ideal evening entertainment and nothing more.