You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I'm an easy target. Yeah, you're right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you... but I don't like to hurt people's feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I'm not changing. I like... I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. 'Cause I'm the real article. What you see is what you get.

There are a few movies that I consider part of a "TBS canon", in that I've seen commercials for them for an aggregate of years and have a vague sense of what they're about but have never actually seen. This is one of them, and while nothing in Planes, Trains and Automobiles is revelatory or novel, it hits the John Hughes notes perfectly.

I am simply not a buddy comedy guy, nor much of a road trip movie guy, and much of the actual plotting felt so lukewarm that I couldn't even endear myself to the faux suspense of it all. But Martin and Candy's performances are pitch-perfect; even without the telegraphed reveal or the saccharine reunion, the graduation evolution of the two characters from charming pastiche into rounded, wounded realism is timeless.

★★★★

Lightning bolt
About Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Lightning bolt
This post is referenced by:

Lightning bolt
About the author

I'm Justin Duke — a software engineer, writer, and founder. I currently work as the CEO of Buttondown, the best way to start and grow your newsletter, and as a partner at Third South Capital.

Lightning bolt
Greatest hits

Lightning bolt
Elsewhere

Lightning bolt
Don't miss the next essay

Get a monthly roundup of everything I've written: no ads, no nonsense.