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20, 1987.'Tis the season for Christmas and holiday parties galore! Get your guests talking with a few of these fun, funny and festive icebreaker questions. Technical credits are highlighted by John Corso’s off-the-wall, on-the-road production design. - Duane Byrge, originally published Nov. Once again, Herald Examiner columnist Ben Stein makes a cameo appearance in Hughes’ traveling road show, this time perfectly cast as a bored airport announcer. Supporting characters are an amusing batch of roadside oddballs, most prominently Edie McClurg as a lethargic car rental clerk and Michael McKean as a by-the-book cop. It’s a testament to Candy’s varied talents that he’s able to show the nice guy lurking beneath the nuisance. Beneath the butterball bravura, Candy is both gentle and razor sharp. When he ultimately cracks up in a rental car lot, his body contorted and limbs flailing outward like a garden hose under too much pressure, it’s all the more uproarious because of the natural way he’s built upon his frustrations.Ĭandy once again makes an oafish character wonderfully appealing. Martin is superb as a man with a high boiling point who is rapidly driven bats. Hughes’ savvy notwithstanding, the appeal of Planes is due to Martin and Candy’s comically controlled, ever-ingratiating performances. Louis and Chicago - not that anyone in provincial Hollywood would notice.) (For high comedic purposes, he’s even moved Wisconsin somewhere midway between St. Still, it is to Hughes’ credit that he keeps Planes, Trains & Automobiles on a generally fast, if geographically lax, comic track. With Martin and Candy’s stand-up skills and Hughes’ absurdist sense, a wacko and totally extraneous production scene would have proven a welcome respite from the endless, one-thing-after-another frustrations. In short, this particular storyline could have benefited from an off-the-narrative road excursion. Louis, or the last leg of the film, audience members are likely to become as weary and edgy as the travelers. Nevertheless, comedy borne out of exasperation travels only so far, and round about St. Throughout the film, Hughes’ Middle America roots pop through nicely, giving the comedy an affectionately tilted homespun feel. They’ve nothing in common, except that they’ve now been rerouted to Wichita.Įssentially, Hughes has booked Martin and Candy on a worst-case Trip Tick, and their frantic foray across mid-America is alternately hilarious and touching. Martin’s an urbane and aloof executive, while Candy’s an unsophisticated and effusive traveling salesman. He’s even prepared for stacking, bumping, circling, delaying and even re-routing, but he’s not prepared for the bubbling and bulging blabbermouth (Candy) in the next seat. A patient and efficient guy, Martin’s a first-class traveler in every respect. He even has a confirmed first-class ticket. marketing meeting to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Martin’s goal is modest, to make it home to Chicago from a N.Y.
#Automile xmas series#
Mainstream audiences should readily identify with the series of tribulations and woes that befall the Everyman Martin in this good-natured, albeit predictable comedy.
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Although producer John Hughes seems to have put the brakes on writer/director John Hughes’ usual full-speed ahead, slapstick-propelled style in this odd couple/on-the-road comedy, Planes, Trains & Automobiles is, no disparagement intended, an “audience picture.”