Long-time fans of actor, comedian and banjo enthusiast Steve Martin are likely already familiar with his Thanksgiving road trip film Planes, Trains & Automobiles featuring the late, great John Candy. This movie, which is so beloved that many are even able to ignore its flagrant disregard for the sanctity of the Oxford comma, captured the hearts of audiences with its hilarious hijinks and genuinely earnest moments alike. But there's one particularly memorable scene that a number of fans will instantly recall the moment the comedy film is mentioned to this day, and it seems even a huge star like Emma Stone isn't immune to that response.
During her recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Stone opted to demonstrate her love for this particular movie with a perfectly memorized recitation of Martin's famous expletive-laden speech directed at an unfortunate rental car clerk. Utilizing Kimmel himself as the helpless target of the steady stream of swears, the Cruella star channeled what appeared to be years of experience watching the film on repeat in order to not only recreate the monologue itself but also act the ever-loving crap out of it.
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As Kimmel set her up with the clerk's opening line, Stone laughed in gratitude only to quickly adopt the face and tone of someone who had clearly been through every kind of mishap while just trying to get home, and began the speech. With f-curses flying in precision strikes directly at the camera, she managed to faithfully repeat the exasperated airing of grievances from Martin's character while somehow making the scene entirely her own, all to the delight of Kimmel's audience. After uttering the string of complaints that would make Seinfeld's George Costanza proud, it was all capped off perfectly with Kimmel ending the segment by quipping, "Wow, beautifully done. You should do more of this acting stuff."
Perhaps the best part of it all came from Twitter after the clip was posted when Martin himself replied to the tweet with, "I'm...honored?" While he's not really active in the comedy world nowadays, at least as much as he used to be, it's nice to see him acknowledge the good old days like this. Planes, Trains & Automobiles is still fondly remembered by legions of comedy fans, and just seeing Martin react to such a video is heartwarming in itself.
Stone's recreation of the scene felt so genuine that it almost seemed to hit home with the audience at times. As if she was channeling every poor traveler who's ever been screwed over by a rental car company or other corporation, she was punctuated by the audience's laughter throughout the speech while her most piercing jabs were accompanied by cheers and applause. It felt visceral and cathartic, nearly beyond how Martin's original performance did in the 1987 film. It just goes to show the power of not only classic cinema, but genuinely amazing acting skills.
Stone's performance in this small clip almost makes the case for her starring in a similar "unfortunate average person just wants to get home but hits every possible inconvenience along the way" type of film (it was a surprisingly prevalent genre back in the day). Watching her vibe with everyone on their worst day like that makes the idea extremely enticing. But even if that never happens, this clip will always exist, and that's satisfying enough.
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Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live/Twitter