Movie Review: Planes Trains And Automobiles (1987) seen on DVD

Comedy: some scenes may be unsuitable for young children; violence, coarse language, minor sexuality, suggestive scenes

This movie follows a man named Neil Page, (played by Steve Martin,) who attempts to catch a flight home for Thanksgiving to be with his family despite leaving his office late. As he rushes to catch his flight, he runs into a man named Del Griffith, (played by John Candy,) who only serves to cause problems for Neil despite his good natured and outgoing personality.

The movie opens in an office with awkward silence presumably near the end of a work day as the clock shows it is almost time to leave. As Neil mouths to one of his employees that he must leave, the scenes the cuts to Neil leaving his office while talking to a coworker who says that he will fail to catch his 6:00 p.m. flight on time due to how hard it is to hail a cab during rush hour. Despite this, Neil remains optimistic but ends up missing a number of cabs due to being too slow as they pass him, eventually offering a man money in exchange for taking his intended cab. After presumably successfully hailing one, (I missed this part as it appeared that the cab in question was already occupied with Neil opened the door,) it is taken by Del. Neil is then shown in the next scene having successfully taken a bus to the airport only to find that his flight has been cancelled due to a snowstorm. After unsuccessfully attempting to book a hotel to stay at, he reluctantly accepts an offer from Del to ensure he gets a room at the hotel where he is staying if Neil can pay the cab fare. Rather than take the fastest route to get to the hotel, the driver takes the long way forcing Neil to pay more money but he manages to afford it anyway. His problems continue when he learns that the hotel only has one more vacancy left and that he must bunk with Del in a room that only has one bed. Throughout the night and into the morning, Neil is forced to contend with Del’s lack of organization and cleanliness. When he goes to take a shower, he finds piles of Del’s dirty clothes all over the floor and in the sink when he attempts to wake himself up by splashing water on his face, he ends up doing so in the dirty water from Del having soaked his underwear in it overnight. This is only the beginning of what turns out to be a long and annoying trip for Neil and his forced companion. Will he make it home in time?

I see this in a lot of movies. An absentee parent, (either mother or father,) attempts to make it home for (insert name of holiday,) to be with his/her kids after their job forces them to be away from them having made a promise to be there. However, along the way, that person encounters some problem, (cancelled flights, lack of transportation,) ETC which results in the possibility of that promise needing to be broken. In most of these movies, the person in question usually is forced to ride with someone that they would rather not ride with as choosing not to may result in the promise that person made failing. During the course of the trip, that person is forced to deal with his/her companion’s odd living arrangements, way of living in general ETC. He/she finally snaps claiming to be able to make their own way without the presence of the annoying companion only to have a change of heart later after finding out that the annoying companion has a sad back story and needed the comfort of the person as he/she was going through, (insert problem.) The person than finds themselves feeling bad for their otherwise annoying companion and becomes friends with them in the end.

Now I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done there. I basically went through all of the associated emotions in this movie. Steve Martin meets John Candy whom he is forced to bunk with and travel with, ETC with the threat of possibly not seeing his family for Thanksgiving if he doesn’t. John Candy annoys Steve Martin with his lack of cleanliness and weird behaviour forcing Steve Martin to eventually get tired of John Candy and abandon him before having a change of heart when he realizes that John Candy has a sad back story for which Steve Martin feels bad enough to allow John Candy to move in with him only for John Candy to spend the last second of the movie before the credits flirting with Steve Martin’s wife.

This sounds very familiar to me. The reason is because they made a sequel to this movie in 2010 called “Due Date” with Robert Downey Jr. playing Steve Martin’s character and Zach Galifianakis playing John Candy’s character. I’m going to be honest in saying that it should be a recreation of this movie as their problems are similar, though the differences are in the reason the character must get home. Robert Downey Jr. had to get home to see the birth of his first child where he encounters Zack Galifianakis and the same formula repeats itself as what occurred in this movie. Steve Martin had to get home for Thanksgiving and John Candy put a wrench in those plans so I suppose it’s not the exact same but very similar. Also Zack Galifianakis does not move in with Robert Downey Jr. in “Due Date” where John Candy moves in with Steve Martin thus creating another difference between the two movies. However, to make a long story short, “Planes, Trains And automobiles is a lot like “Due Date.” I enjoyed “Due Date” (actually the review on this movie is already done,) so since it is so similar, I can honestly say I enjoyed this movie too.

Movie rating: 10 out of 10