This is one of those movies that I will watch repeatedly because for two reasons: 1) it is a short 90-minute movie and zips by quickly and 2) Steve Martin and the late John Candy. It is a travesty that not many people have seen or even heard about this movie and what is more unbelievable is I do not know if they do know that it is a movie from John Hughes, who has made Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He is basically known as the "poet of suburbia" as he is a Chicago person who understands the city and also the human conditions of teenagers before he made this film.
It is also a tradition, in my case, where I watch this every Thanksgiving because I need a laugh and this is also an appropriate film because it is relevant to even today's standards in which relatives, distant and household, want to come back home to their families just in time to celebrate with loved ones. But, in the case of this movie, it is the journey back home that makes the experience more worthwhile and memorable. There are moments that triggers laughter that I literally cannot stop for a few minutes. Even though its set-up is familiar, the chemistry between Martin and Candy is what makes this movie golden.
Neal Page (Steve Martin) is a marketing executive who is in New York for business. His uneasiness is noticed right in the beginning as he glances at both his gold watch and plane tickets as his executive cannot decide which mock-up he wants to use for a cosmetic ad. Much later, Neal tries to reach for a cab at rush hour but he had to race another man (Kevin Bacon in a cameo) to get the cab. However, when reaching for another cab and bribing an attorney for the cab ride, Neal notices his other cab is gone as Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring traveling salesman, steals his cab. Neal eventually gets to La Guardia Airport but his plane is delayed.
Neal and Del meet again at the airport while waiting and Del apologizes to Neal for stealing his cab. By some miracle, they sit next to each other on the plane as Del is known as a "blabber-mouth" who cannot stop talking and Neal is more distant and focused on other things. Unfortunately, their plane to Chicago is diverted to Wichita as a large snow storm has interfered their path home. It basically into Murphy's law, in which everything can go wrong, will go wrong as they have to spend the night at a hotel but they have to be forced to share a room.
After a lengthy argument that night (we'll get to that in a little bit), Neal and Deal come into good terms while having breakfast, so, as it seems, before they find out that their cash has been stolen as a burglar robbed them in the middle of the night. They travel by train until the locomotive breaks down having them and most passengers stranded in the Missouri field and have to travel by bus to Jefferson City where Del sells shower curtain rings to get bus tickets for himself and Neal. But, in the middle of lunch, Neal offends Del and the two part ways. But, it gets worse for Neal as he attempts to rent a car and does but finds out that his assigned car is not at his assigned parking space.
The only deep element I want to go into and there is not much because it is a short, fun comedy is in the characters. Neal is a no-nonsense executive in the beginning who is focused on getting back home with his family. Del is a charismatic, talkative person who is talented in selling shower curtain rings to the main target. They are obviously opposites and they come together in unpredictable territories.
There is a contrast to these two clips above. The first clip obviously establishes both characters to each other as they get to know each other a little bit more but we discover a couple of things that Del does to get us chuckling a little bit. Now, this condensed second clip is sort of the crux of the movie as Neal verbally rants against Del's flaws and personality. He keeps going on repeatedly and Hughes does a fantastic job capturing Candy's expressions as the camera is a bit distant from his expression and as Neal's rants keep going, his face gets paler and sadder and the camera is a bit closer as he and we, supposedly, accept his feelings get hurt. But, Del replies, with great dialogue that he is an easy target for hurt feelings but his personality will not change as he likes himself, his wife likes him and his customers like him. I mean, he is the big picture and "what Neal sees is what he gets" and Neal basically gets owned.
(WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE. But, it's hilarious.)
Now, Steve Martin gives a more restrained performance as his roles are more kinetic and crazy as his physical comedy chops basically steal the spotlight but it is John Candy that is surprisingly great in this movie. I think this is his best performance of his career as he portrays a funny, charismatic loudmouth but inside, he hides a vulnerable and sad soul and secret that makes him more human that we feel empathy for and Neal allows Del to come back home with him to his house. But, John Hughes, with the two memorably laugh-out-loud scenes above, combines a certain character-driven drama with the usual golden comedy that breaks us in laughter. If you want to watch a Thanksgiving movie with your family (if you take out the verbal rant out of this R-rated movie, it would have been rated PG. Just cover the children's ears.), this is the one as it has comedy and human drama that everybody can enjoy and leave you with a great smile.
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