History Film / PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles

* TooDumbToLive: Del gets both arms stuck while driving down the highway and it doesn't occur to him until he's just about to run into something that maybe he should hit the breaks.

* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler:Del is revealed to be one of these.]]

** Mid-Central Airlines and Marathon Rent-a-Car as well.

** Del's rental car looks like a smaller version of the [[Film/NationalLampoonsVacation Wagon Queen Family Truckster.]]

** The movie Mrs. Page watches on TV early on in the film is actually Creator/JohnHughes' [[CallForward next]] film ''She's Having a Baby''.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: A rare in-media example! The first time we hear this song is when Neal's luck reaches RockBottom once he [[spoiler:misses the fucking ride back to the fucking rental car headquarters and is fucking forced to walk down the fucking highway and across a fucking runway]], and again, during the first part of the closing credits, after "Every Time You Go Away."

-->[[spoiler:'''Del:''' I don't have a home. Marie's been dead for eight years.]]

-->'''Neal:''' You're no saint. You got a free cab, you got a free room, and someone who'll listen to [[BoringInsult your boring stories.]] I mean, didn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the ''vomit bag?'' Didn't that give you some sort of clue, like "maybe this guy's not enjoying it?" You know, everything is not an anecdote. You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. You're a miracle! Your stories have ''NONE'' of that. They're not even amusing ''ACCIDENTALLY''! "Honey, I'd like you to meet Del Griffith, he's got some amusing anecdotes for you. Oh, and here's a gun so you can blow your brains out. You'll thank me for it." I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They'd say, "How can you stand it?" I'd say, "'Cause I've been with Del Griffith. I can take ''ANYTHING''." You know what they'd say? They'd say, "[[EveryoneHasStandards I know what you mean. The shower curtain ring guy. Woah.]]" It's like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll. I expect you have a little string on your chest, you know, that I pull out and have to snap back. Except I wouldn't pull it out and snap it back -- you would. Agh! Agh! Agh! Agh! And by the way, you know, when you're telling these little stories? Here's a good idea: have a ''point''. It makes it ''SO'' much more interesting for the listener!

** The movie's poster is framed to resemble a Creator/NormanRockwell painting.

* NoAntagonist: Neal and Del are flawed characters who get on each other's nerves but neither one is a villain. The only entity that qualifies as an antagonist is the travel industry itself.

** Although it's considered incredibly rude to cuss out an employee, Neal's anger towards the airline attendant isn't entirely unjustified, as she ''was'' on the phone having personal conversations during working hours.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Neal's comments to Del in the motel room are intentionally cruel and hurtful. However, for all his friendly demeanor and kindness, Del is indeed an obnoxious slob who doesn't know when to shut up or when to leave somebody else alone.
** Although it's considered incredibly rude to cuss out an employee, Neil's anger towards the airline attendant isn't entirely unjustified, as she ''was'' on the phone during working hours.

* Hypocrite: Played for laughs initially, but later on it's revealed that Del does realize that he's talking about himself:

--->'''Del''':...The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth... You know, nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead that doesn't know when to keep his big trap shut...

* {{Jerkass}}: Neal; he starts the film as incredibly cynical, rude, quick to anger and overall insociable, however, his time spent with Del over the three days it takes to get home does him a WORLD of good, and he's much better by the end of the journey!

* TookALevelInKindness: Neal growing to like Del, and inviting him for Thanksgiving dinner.

* ConMan: Dell manages to make money selling shower curtain rings to random strangers by making all sorts of fanciful claims about his product, such as their being filled with helium to make them light, and telling several teenage girls that his shower curtain rings were once earings worn by Cleopatra. He also "borrows" Neal's credit card after they part company at the bus station.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Neal's comments to Dell in the motel room are intentionally cruel and hurtful. However, for all his friendly demeanor and kindness, Dell is indeed an obnoxious slob who doesn't know when to shut up or when to leave somebody else alone.