Steve Martin, John Candy
Director: John Hughes
Paramount Pictures
Rated R
This is one of my favorite holiday movies, a John Hughes classic and a great road trip movie all rolled up into one. The story follows yuppie Neal Page who is trying to get home to his family in Chicago from New York in time for Thanksgiving. A series of events continually alters his course to intersect with that of Del Griffith, an obnoxious and overbearing traveling salesman.
The character arch of the movie belongs to Neal who is so self-absorbed with his problems and misfortune that the situations of others never occur to him. I don’t think it’s correct to call Del the antagonist. He is more of an agent for Neal’s change.
God unexpectedly puts people in our paths all the time. Jesus calls them “neighbors” and tells a road trip story of his own to illustrate how we should handle these obstacles..er..opportunities. (Luke 10:25 – 37)
It isn’t until the 11th hour that Neal considers Del’s point of view and realizes, through clues in their past conversations, that Del just may be more in need than himself and yet was much more giving than himself.
Neal was never an evil person. He, like many of us, just failed to consider those peripheral people in his life who are in need. We’ve become a world so guarded, so afraid of being taken advantage of, that we close ourselves off completely to opportunities for giving (Romans 14:7), opportunities that we can be thankful for and that can show us how much more we have to give.
Director: John Hughes
Paramount Pictures
Rated R
This is one of my favorite holiday movies, a John Hughes classic and a great road trip movie all rolled up into one. The story follows yuppie Neal Page who is trying to get home to his family in Chicago from New York in time for Thanksgiving. A series of events continually alters his course to intersect with that of Del Griffith, an obnoxious and overbearing traveling salesman.The character arch of the movie belongs to Neal who is so self-absorbed with his problems and misfortune that the situations of others never occur to him. I don’t think it’s correct to call Del the antagonist. He is more of an agent for Neal’s change.
God unexpectedly puts people in our paths all the time. Jesus calls them “neighbors” and tells a road trip story of his own to illustrate how we should handle these obstacles..er..opportunities. (Luke 10:25 – 37)
It isn’t until the 11th hour that Neal considers Del’s point of view and realizes, through clues in their past conversations, that Del just may be more in need than himself and yet was much more giving than himself.
Neal was never an evil person. He, like many of us, just failed to consider those peripheral people in his life who are in need. We’ve become a world so guarded, so afraid of being taken advantage of, that we close ourselves off completely to opportunities for giving (Romans 14:7), opportunities that we can be thankful for and that can show us how much more we have to give.
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