John Candy: I Like Me (2025) * * *

 

Directed by:  Colin Hanks

Featuring interviews with:  Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Aykroyd, Rose Candy, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Macaulay Culkin, Andrea Martin, John Candy (archive footage), Chris Columbus, John Hughes (archive footage), Mel Brooks

John Candy was a naturally funny man.  His first appearance onscreen usually results in a chuckle or laugh.  He was full of warmth, good humor, charm, ability, and unfortunately weight and health problems which caused his death from a heart attack at 43 in 1994.  One thing Candy wasn't was controversial.  He was a beloved actor, other actors and crew members loved working with him, and no one had a bad thing to say about him.  Bill Murray, in the opening moments of John Candy: I Like Me, amusingly points out that he can't think of anything negative to say about Candy.  The documentary, while borderline hagiography, is still compelling because we still miss the guy 30-plus years after his death.  

It isn't the movie's problem that Candy was a sweetheart of a guy who carried the psychic weight of this father dying on his fifth birthday and while battling his weight demons was still outwardly cheerful.  However, if the interviewer brings up his girth, he is visibly uncomfortable but always played the good sport.  It would be wrong to try and create controversy where none existed, so we can still enjoy John Candy: I Like Me on its own terms.  The most sadness you will find is how insecure Candy was despite his great achievements. 

Tracing his early showbiz days with Second City and soon SCTV, his co-stars spoke glowingly about his talent and the person he was.  He married and had two children, and from all accounts, was a present and loving husband and dad.  He liked to party and hang out at the bar socializing with friends, and was reluctant to give up his vices.  When doctors advised him to lose weight and cut out drinking and smoking, he would simply find another doctor who would tell him what he wanted to hear.  His friends suggested he learned to eat and drink his feelings from an early age.  By the time he died from a heart attack while filming Wagons East! in Mexico, he had to have been close to 400 pounds.  

The best parts of John Candy: I Like Me involve behind-the-scenes stories of some of his most memorable films, including Stripes, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Spaceballs, JFK, Home Alone etc.  The movies like Nothing but Trouble were filed under the "doing a friend a favor" movies which were box office bombs, but still benefited from Candy's talent.  I never saw Wagons East! and many others can claim the same thing, but watching it would invoke sadness because we knew he died during its filming.  The driving force behind John Candy: I Like Me is knowing that we will reach the sad time where Candy was taken from the world and his family at far too young an age.  He left behind quite a filmography, but there could've been so much more.