Marketing man Neal (Martin) is in a last ditch dash to get home for Thanksgiving. He makes his flight, which is then delayed and diverted to Wichita. In flight, he reluctantly befriends Del (Candy), an enormous slob who proceeds to follow Neal - via an assortment of transport - like a bad smell.
by Gavin Bainbridge |
Published on
Release Date:
01 Jan 1987
Running Time:
93 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Producer-writer-director John Hughes has brought together two of America's biggest comedy talents for this likeable comic foray into life on the road. Martin and Candy are ill-starred business travellers (one a marketing consultant with the archetypal '80s suit and hair, one a polyester-clad clod of a shower-ring salesman Candy plays the latter, just in case anyone needed clarification) who have to navigate their way from New York to Chicago overland in time for Thanksgiving. As time and options slip through their hands, desperation sets in, as does a mutual dependence.
This bond is a genuinely touching one; Candy's massive vulnerability swallows Martin's incisive cynicism and its hard to deny the film its warm-hearted if twee ending.
A warm, mature offering from Hughes, with Martin's restraint a perfect counterpoint to Candy's enormous (and enormously amusing) fooling around. You'll find sympathy here, but just as many calamitous antics as you'd expect in any Hughes vehicle.
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