The Prime documentary 'John Candy: I Like Me' opens with Dan Aykroyd's eulogy and closes with Catherine O'Hara's, setting a tone of affectionate remembrance. Directed by Colin Hanks, the film features interviews with an impressive roster of A-listers including Steve Martin, Martin Short, Macaulay Culkin, Chris Columbus, and Tom Hanks. None of them has a bad word to say about the beloved comedian, resulting in a uniquely shallow portrait.
The documentary kicks off the 50th-anniversary edition of the Toronto Film Festival, near Candy's hometown of Newmarket, Ontario. It focuses on Candy's life as a born people pleaser and gifted improv comic, but fails to delve into the drama of his career. While his filmography includes nearly 40 features, only a handful are considered good, such as 'Only the Lonely' and the John Hughes classic 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'.
The film explores Candy's home life, noting that his father died of a heart attack on John's fifth birthday, leading to a fear that he too would die young. Candy passed away at age 43 from a heart attack. Hanks builds the narrative around this tragedy, rewinding the clock each time he jumps back to an earlier stage in Candy's life.
Interviews with his wife, Rosemary Hobor, and his adult children, Christopher and Jennifer, offer generalities rather than revealing anecdotes. The documentary touches on Candy's self-doubt around 1991 but does not explain why he appeared in so many poorly received films. Despite this, Hanks recognises that a funny actor's work should be judged by the strength of their characters and memorable scenes, not just the quality of their films.
