So, today is about the time that you really need to make sure you have your travel plans sorted. Everyone loves the time off work and going home for the holidays – but getting home can be a real nightmare! Today’s films help to contextualise your own woes – whether you are afraid of being stuck in traffic for a million miles, have a fear of flights, don’t trust walking through ice or have any one of a million completely viable fear for the trains, today I want to share a film with you which you can say out loud – well at least it won’t be this bad…
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
John Hughes, 93 mins
If there was a comic actor who was taken from us too soon, it was John Candy. He is a staple figure in a lot of the films I remember watching when growing up, and this film is a great example of him at work. Steve Martin plays the everyman, stuck away from where he needs to be thanks to a situation which conspires against him. In a similar position is the overly caring John Candy, who through an excessive display of affection and other more annoying habits, frustrates and prevents Martin without realising. P,T&A is a film which makes you groan out load “oh no!” more than any other, but still is never uncomfortable to watch. If you have any qualms at all about getting home then this will relieve your worries.
But if you fancy something that won’t make you squeal with discomfort, why not try our alternative film…
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)
Chris Columbus, 120 mins
Older and wiser, the sequel to the classic Culkin kids film splits the room – some think it refines the formulae,and other finds the premise stretched too far. I personally admire this film, and having seen it potentially more than the first, it still fills me with joy. Once again, on re-viewing, there is much
to be found in this film that is bizarre, but a firm Christmas film that plays on the fears of getting home, is the perfect way to while a way your worries – althought at two hours, it could perhaps do with a little cut here and there – hence why it doesn’t get it’s own day to itself!