Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Steve Martin stars as Neal Page, an uptight advertising executive who misses his scheduled flight from New York to Chicago when an obnoxious salesman steals his cab. As fate would have it, the cab thief turns out to be a shower curtain ring salesman (John Candy) who just happens to sit next to Neal on his flight home. Due to inclement weather, their plane is diverted to Wichita, and when they land, Neal fails to secure a place to stay for the evening. Lucky for him, his new “friend” has booked the last room in town. Thus begins a relationship made in heaven—or hell, depending on your perspective.

Unlike most of today’s comedies, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is funny without being overtly crude and always seems to tickle my funny bone, despite seeing it countless times over the last 25 years. Whether it’s Neal’s interaction with the rental car clerk, the two men waking up with one of their hands between the pillows—“Those aren’t pillows!”—or better yet, the abuse the rental car receives on their trip home. Writer/director John Hughes proved throughout the ’80s that he was a master of teen comedies, and when he finally ventured into the adult realm, he solidified himself as one of the best filmmakers of his generation.

If you like your video transfers to look as if they’ve gone through the wash and rinse cycle a few times too many, then you’ll love the look of this title. The downside is that it doesn’t look much like film since it appears like the DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) knob was turned up to the maximum when the disc was encoded. Facial textures and fine detail are all but nonexistent. On the plus side, the colors are very vibrant and clean, and it does look better than the DVD I’ve owned for years. As expected, the audio track doesn’t scream “demo-worthy,” but the dialogue is always intelligible, and it features decent ambience and an engaging score for a 1980s comedy.

The supplement package isn’t robust by any means; it has three vintage featurettes ported over from the DVD and a 1080pencoded deleted scene. The best addition to the Blu-ray is a fascinating two-part John Hughes retrospective that chronicles the late writer/director’s body of work and how he inspired the numerous actors he worked with to become one with the characters they were playing.

Despite the middling video transfer, this is one of the best comedies made in my lifetime and deserves a place in your collection.

Blu-Ray
Studio: Paramount, 1987
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Length: 92 mins.
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins