Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of my all time favorites.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie is in large part a I think a major reason that road-trip comedies aren't really a thing anymore. Now, that probably makes it sound like I'm going to trash this movie in the rest of the review. But really when you have a road trip comedy as good as this one, it's pretty much impossible to top it, especially because this is a self-professed road trip movie without any extra fluff or additional elements. I sincerely hope that nobody tries to re-make this movie, because this is very much a sort of movie that would get re-booted in the current marketplace. Unrelated to this movie, I'm going to go on a brief discourse/rant about reboots, so you may want to skip this paragraph. If you're going to re-boot a movie, re-boot a bad movie that had potential to be good. If you re-boot a good movie, chances are you're only going to make it as good as the original, it's not going to be better. Karate Kid was a solid movie, it deserved to stand as its own thing. Same with some of these Disney animated classics that are getting live-action re-boots. The originals are good. In many cases movies like Ocean's Eleven and 3:10 to Yuma and even the 1980's Scarface are better as re-boot because the originals weren't fabulous and/or they waited a good long time to re-boot them. So please, don't re-boot a movie like this or like Groundhog Day. Do it with something that could've been much better like 21 or Cloud Atlas or even the Hunt for Red October. Sorry not sorry about that.There are aspects of this movie that feel dated, contrived, and somewhat predictable, but all of these flaws are pretty forgivable I think. Considering the standards that comedies are usually held to, I'd say this does much better than most. It's true that we know intuitively that John Candy and Steve Martin are not actually parting ways the couple of times they do, just like we know that one mode of transportation or another will not get them all the way to Chicago. However, John Hughes' comedy writing coupled with some great performances keep us entertained enough that anything that seems implausible is forgiven. And it's still funny when John Candy just keeps on running back into Steve Martin. Hughes does a really good job giving his movies, and this one in particular, some good emotional cores that don't detract one bit from the laughs. Breakfast Club is the only of his movies that has more emotional stakes to it, but this I think is Hughes' funniest. It's kind of too bad that the days of John Hughes and Mrs. Doubtfire type of comedies is past, but they did have their day and for better or for worse don't really fit in today's marketplace.I would recommend to anyone who likes 80's comedies, because it is one of the best. I doubt it will be many people's favorite movie, but it is somebody's favorite and will rank high on a lot of personal lists. It does have an R-rating because of the one scene, but otherwise it's a Goonies-level family movie. If your kid knows the f-word you can show this to them and if not, you can just skip over the one scene if you know when it is. If you're not huge on 80's comedy or are not familiar with it, this could changed whatever opinions you have. Yes, there are cheesy and old-fashioned things about it, but it should still entertain you for a solid 90 minutes. Overall Rating: 7.7/10

I was like 13 when this film came out...and it still holds up! As dated as it is with it's soundtrack, it is still very much relevant. I watch this movie every year as a tradition. The airport scene with Mrs. Pool still has me rolling. RIP John Candy, he was my favorite comedian. Candy and Martin were can't miss back then!

Every once in a while I will rewatch a movie from my youth. Planes, Trains and Automobiles happened to be on so I thought I'd check it out. From what I remembered it was a good movie.Yes it was.Maybe it was the nostalgia of it or maybe it was just that good but I found myself guffawing at Neal (Steve Martin) and Del (John Candy). It's hard to believe that the movie is now 30 years old. It's Thanksgiving time and Neal and Del are begrudgingly (from Neal's point of view anyway) paired together on a hellish trip from New York to Chicago in which Murphy's Law fully applies. Hilarity ensues as Neal is pushed to the brink of insanity by all of the mishaps and Del--the oblivious, jolly fat man.Although Neal and Del weren't the original odd couple I would venture to say that they were the first road trip odd couple.

As the holidays approach, I always look forward to catching this one. I laugh, I cry, I miss John Candy more. I've been a huge fan of traveling since 1/2 a year old when I went to Germany for the first time. Over the years travel has become a pain in the tuchus but the journey is always worth it. Maybe that's why I did P,T+A so much. One delay after another. Cancellations due to inclement conditions and broken down modes of transport. Steve Martin and John Candy light up the screen with their love/hate relationship. I always crack up with the shot of the melted car wrecked car. "No, but the radio still works, ha ha".Partake in your own tradition and give this flick an annual watching come turkey day.