If you were asked what your favorite Thanksgiving movie is – a typical interaction in day-to-day life – you would probably answer:Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Despite the title not adhering to the use of the Oxford comma, the reasons why most people love it aren’t hard to muster. For one thing, it’s hilarious (it does star comedic national treasures, Steve Martin and John Candy, after all); it’s one of John Hughes’ best films, and, to be frank, there aren’t that many great Thanksgiving movies out there – thoughEli Roth’s new filmseems to be winning people over.
Planes, Trains & Automobilesisn’t justa quality holiday film. It’s one of the best comedies ever made. It essentially perfected the buddy road trip movie and the odd-couple dynamic that later comedies would try to replicate (Todd Phillips practically remade it 23 years later, just with more drugs and a way more mean-spirited tone). What makes this film unique, however, and what helps build the fantastic chemistry between Steve Martin’s Neal Page and John Candy’s Del Griffith, is the structural 180 it pulls on the audience’s preconceived expectation of a third-act breakup (or, in this case, blow-up).
Films like this often have a similar structure. You have the straight-laced protagonist (Neal Page), who is our observer of the weird characters and scenarios that will appear throughout the film. They’re often stuck up or set in their ways. Then, through strange twists of fate, they get stuck with a wildcard character (Del Griffith) who annoys them and tests their patience, but ultimately, they warm up to each other and become friends by the end. Often, they’ll reach their breaking point halfway through or at the end of the second act, and it’s the comedic equivalent of the third-act breakup in romantic comedies.
The film differs from other buddy comedies because of its willingness to break that structural trope. Neal doesn’t wait to let loose his aggravation on Del for the latter half of the movie. In fact, he barely gets to the half-hour mark, and the thing that makes him snap isn’t even something significant. Del is just being obnoxious while they’re trying to get some sleep in the same bed. That’s the big relationship hurdle that makes them come to blows, and the first time you see it, it’s almost jarring. As an audience member, you’re so used to that moment happening far later in the runtime, so if that’s where it’s supposed to build up to…
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Where Do You Go From There?
The Thanksgiving storyevolves from Neal facing this outrageous odyssey with an annoying tagalong who keeps making it worse to a tale of two people who must pull through it together. Usually, the annoying character would be almost blissfully ignorant of their temporary comrade’s frustrations, making it build even more. But since that moment happens so early on, it allows their dynamic to grow more meaningfully.
Del knows he’s annoying, and more importantly, he now knows how annoying he is to Neal, and it’s clear he just wants to be Neal’s friend. He describes it later when talking to his departed wife, Marie, “I meet someone whose company I really enjoy, and what do I do? I go overboard. I smother the poor soul. I cause him more trouble than he has a right to. God, I got a big mouth.” For all of Del’s shortcomings (from Neal’s perspective, anyway), he’s not the bad guy in the story. It’s the trip itself and the bad luck on the Thanksgiving holiday that seemingly follows the two of them wherever they go.
Neal figures that out early on because as bad as things get when they’re together, it always gets even worse when they’re apart. When they go their separate ways on the train, it breaks down. When Neal goes off on his own, his rental car gets stolen, and he has to walk back to the rental place (which leads to the film’s best scene and gloriously earns itan R-rating), which results in him getting beat up by a taxi driver. In both cases, they always end up back together anyway, so they might as well stick it out because misery loves company.
The Moral of the Story
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The early scene of them butting heads helps them as characters because it makes them lay their cards on the table and admit their issues with each other (Neal needs to lighten up, but Del needs to be more self-aware). The extra breathing room in the remainder of the film makestheir developing friendshipfeel more earned by the end. Instead of only having the last twenty minutes to see eye-to-eye, they have two-thirds of the movie left.
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There are buddy road trip films likeDue Datewhere it’s a hard pill to swallow believing thatRobert Downey Jr.’s characterwould remain friends with Zach Galifianakis after the story has run its course. There are some comedic duos where it’s believable that they might eventually see eye-to-eye with one another, but it’s a bit of a stretch to believe that they could see each other truly as friends.
However, inPlanes, Trains & Automobiles, it feels credible because the two of them get to see each other at their worst and their best, and by the time Neal introduces Del as his friend to his family, it feels completely sincere and earned through the trials and tribulations they went through to get there.
