There are movie announcements that make a person ask ‘why?’, especially when it comes to remaking something that was great, to begin with. So let’s get this out there and say that no, a remake of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles won’t destroy the original in any way, but there are bound to be a lot of people that will wonder why in the name of all the movie gods would anyone think to remake a movie like this when to fair, the bar set by Steve Martin and John Candy is just insanely high, which kind of knocks Kevin Hart out of the running to start with. Okay, so that was a shameless short joke, but it was still necessary since Hart and Smith are both funny individuals and have proven it through the years. But neither one of them, in fact, both of them put together, are nowhere near as funny as either Martin or Candy on their own. Maybe the remake isn’t meant to be as funny, which might actually be the saving grace for the remake since trying to outwit the original wouldn’t be that possible for the two actors. How the story would even go in this era is kind of hard to say since so much has to be updated that setting the movie a few decades in the past might be the only way to go. But if there’s one thing that you can guess, such a thing won’t happen.
Personally, I do enjoy both Will Smith and Kevin Hart when it comes to their movies, but this isn’t the movie for them. They could come up with something that mirrors this movie but isn’t a direct remake, and it might be easier to respect the mere idea of it. What might come from the idea is at this point kind of hard to imagine, but if it’s going to follow the original movie closely then it’s probably going to be pretty funny since both actors are more than a little skilled when it comes to comedy, obviously. Maybe it’s just the idea of holding onto a classic movie as it is without anything to compare it to, but it’s also a desire to see Hollywood finally step up and do something creative and innovative without having to tap directly into a movie idea that’s already been done. It’s true that it’s difficult to think up new ideas, but this is what the writers of said movies get paid thousands of dollars to do since they’re apparently good enough to pen scripts that will invigorate the audiences and get them laughing, so long as they build directly off of older ideas. Is that not frustrating to anyone else?
A great number of movies have been remade over the years and while some have been successes others have been little more than pale imitations of the movies they were based on in the first place. The fact is that there are movies that exist that just can’t be improved upon that much, if at all, and thinking that they can is almost blasphemous in a very profound way. Hart and Smith have both been in a wide array of movies that have seen them both be dramatic, comedic, and made them into action stars, kind of in Hart’s case. One would think that this would be a great way to see them being funny together, but the chemistry that Martin and Candy had back in the day and the way they were able to play off of each other’s roles so easily is something that will no doubt be expected of Smith and Hart since to be honest, many upon many people know this movie and they know how it’s supposed to go. Trying to get fans to accept a new version of an older movie isn’t always that difficult, but trying to get them to enjoy it as much as they enjoyed the original is a demand that isn’t always met. Apparently the movie is going to happen so petitioning against it wouldn’t do any good, and it’s not likely that anyone would since the message it would probably send, whether it was meant or not, wouldn’t be all that positive.
Keep in mind there’s nothing wrong with Smith and Hart as comedians or as actors, but this doesn’t feel like the right movie to showcase them in. Putting the two of them in a buddy movie would be fine and calling it something else would likely make it greater since the two of them are high-caliber actors that know how to entertain an audience and get them laughing from front to back. But slapping a label on it and calling a movie a remake is kind of a played-out method at this point, especially when it comes to mimicking older movies.
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