PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES
A film review by Hal Render
Copyright 1987 Hal Render
I saw PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES last night and left with mixed feelings about it. On the surface it is one thing, in reality something else, and the dichotomy is not handled as well as it could be. I think writer/director John Hughes has made another attempt at a comedy with a serious underside, but this time the two goals do not mesh as well as in past films.
Basically the plot concerns marketing exec Neil Page (Steve Martin) and his attempts to return home from a business trip just before Thanksgiving. The trip starts awful and gets worse, due to a combination of incredibly bad luck and the presence of Del Griffith (John Candy). Del is a sales rep and one of the single most boorish people on the face of the earth. For the purpose of this trip he also seems to be an instrument of fate, sent to accompany Neil through his trials and to have him examine his life and his relations with other people.
This is noble stuff, but the movie doesn't always reach the level Hughes attempts. The comedy side is quite good. Hughes can direct a farce as well as anybody, as he has shown in SIXTEEN CANDLES and FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. This time, with Martin and Candy, he has the additional benefit of two of the best comedic actors around. Watching Martin go through surprise, despair, anger, and resignation is like watching a master musician play his instrument. And John Candy, doing a character he has done variations of for years, shows how an overbearing lout *should* be played. The two form a comedy team that deserve more movies together.
But the drama Hughes strives for sometimes seems forced. We are made to see the human side of Candy's cartoon character, and the shift in perception is jarring. Candy carries it off as well as I think that any actor could, and in fact is the best that I have seen him. But the script doesn't handle the transition in a natural way, and the audience is left feeling manipulated. Martin's character, being less extreme, is not subject to as many shifts, but it is not always clear from where the attitude changes he does show come. The whole idea of a farce is somewhat foreign to this type of introspection, so maybe Hughes just tried something beyond him. Still, his teen comedies did a good job of making us laugh and think, so maybe he just didn't do as good a job with this film.
Despite its problems, I liked PLANES, TRAINS, and AUTOMOBILES. I felt empathy with the characters, and even if I didn't know where much of the characters' emotion came from, I responded to it. I also laughed a lot. It's tough to complain about a film which does that. I'd give it a +1 on the -4/+4 scale.
Hal Render
render@b.cs.uiuc.edu (ARPA)
{seismo,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!render (USENET)
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