{"id":46649,"date":"2025-09-23T18:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=46649"},"modified":"2025-09-23T18:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:04:15","slug":"devastating-john-candy-doc-is-a-heartfelt-look-at-comedy-superstar-lost-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/09\/devastating-john-candy-doc-is-a-heartfelt-look-at-comedy-superstar-lost-too-soon.html","title":{"rendered":"Devastating John Candy Doc is a Heartfelt Look at Comedy Superstar Lost Too Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ryan Reynolds \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Early in the emotional new documentary \u201cJohn Candy: I Like Me,\u201d which had its world premiere Thursday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, actor Bill Murray sums up the loving movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had some bad things to say about him,\u201d says Candy\u2019s friend and \u201cStripes\u201d co-star.<\/p>\n

From start to finish, there\u2019s not an ugly word flung at the comedy genius, who died in 1994 at the young age of 43.<\/p>\n

Rather than that being evasive, however, the heartfelt approach feels right and honest. Directed by Colin Hanks, \u201cI Like Me\u201d portrays Candy as a hardworking family man driven, in no small part, by a ticktock feeling that his life would be cut short.<\/p>\n

\u201cI seem to recall him saying, \u2018I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to make it past 35,\u2019\u201d his friend Eugene Levy says in the doc, which hits Amazon Prime Video on Oct. 10.<\/p>\n

It is plainly obvious that his famous pals interviewed in the movie, such as Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Macaulay Culkin, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Catherine O\u2019Hara and Andrea Martin, still feel the sting of Candy\u2019s death 31 years later. Eyes are wet from memories both happy and hard.<\/p>\n

The same is true, of course, of his two children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe loved our dad,\u201d said his daughter, Jennifer, onstage at the premiere with her brother, Christopher. \u201cAnd we know you did too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many celebs worthy of the documentary treatment, Candy doesn\u2019t become a full-blown addict or temperamental diva whose personal life unravels as his humble origins fade away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Like Me\u201d is a celebration of his enduring work that will especially draw in comedy dorks. His time on \u201cSCTV\u201d and in memorable movies such as \u201cPlanes, Trains and Automobiles\u201d (the title comes from his character\u2019s vulnerable speech), \u201cUncle Buck,\u201d \u201cHome Alone,\u201d \u201cSplash\u201d and \u201cSpaceballs\u201d is exhaustively covered.<\/p>\n

What a trip it is to watch Candy and his hilarious, scrappy Canadian compatriots, who got their start in a legendary Toronto production of the musical \u201cGodspell,\u201d all become the most sought-after talents in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

And yet how bittersweet it is that today, while so many of those names are at the peak of their fame and powers, Candy isn\u2019t here with them.<\/p>\n

I hasten to say that, while the doc is very kind, it doesn\u2019t shy away from the actor\u2019s personal difficulties.<\/p>\n

His father died of a heart attack at age 35 on Candy\u2019s fifth birthday, and the huge loss went almost unacknowledged by his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe carried the weight of his father\u2019s passing almost every day,\u201d his \u201cSCTV\u201d co-star Dave Thomas says.<\/p>\n

Candy also was self-conscious about his weight of more than 300 pounds.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t like using his body for humor, and was uncomfortable with a part of the movie \u201cStripes\u201d that turned him into a sight gag.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very upset about \u2018Stripes\u2019 and the scene he had in the mud [in which he wrestled with girls],\u201d said former Second City co-owner Andrew Alexander. Candy actually refused to film the scene shirtless.<\/p>\n

A revealing glimpse into Candy\u2019s character comes from Culkin, who was 8 years old when he starred opposite him in \u201cUncle Buck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culkin has long claimed his father, Kit, whom he\u2019s now estranged from, was abusive during his childhood. In \u201cI Like Me,\u201d he refers to his dad as \u201can infamous monster,\u201d and says that on set, Candy was \u201cpaternal\u201d and sensed something was not OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything all right?,\u201d Culkin remembers Candy asking. \u201cEverything good at home?\u201d<\/p>\n

Culkin adds, \u201cI wish I got more of that in my life \u2026 I remember John caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candy\u2019s friends cared more and more about his own well-being as he aged. They worried about his health and growing anxiety. His wife Rosemary had to buy him 5XL shirts, and he was having public panic attacks.<\/p>\n

While filming the physically demanding movie \u201cWagons East!\u201d in hot Durango, Mexico, in 1994, Candy died in his sleep.<\/p>\n

Another actor in the film, Don Lake, remembers learning the horrible news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard how they found him,\u201d the \u201cBest in Show\u201d star says in the doc. \u201cHe was sat up on the side of the bed reading the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sniffles were loud at Toronto\u2019s Princess of Wales Theatre as the film showed footage of Catherine O\u2019Hara\u2019s eulogy from Candy\u2019s funeral. For the procession, California Interstate 405 was, in a rare move, closed off to other vehicles.<\/p>\n

Levy, drier than LA pavement, says, \u201cYou know you\u2019ve made it when they\u2019re closing freeways for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article written by Johnny Oleksinski and originally appeared on NYPost.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early in the emotional new documentary \u201cJohn Candy: I Like Me,\u201d which had its world premiere Thursday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, actor Bill Murray sums up the loving movie. \u201cI wish I had some bad things to say about him,\u201d says Candy\u2019s friend and \u201cStripes\u201d co-star. From start to finish, there\u2019s not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":46655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nDevastating John Candy Doc is a Heartfelt Look at Comedy Superstar Lost Too Soon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Comedy stars pay tribute and remember their friend, John Candy, in the new documentary from Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/09\/devastating-john-candy-doc-is-a-heartfelt-look-at-comedy-superstar-lost-too-soon.html\" \/>\n<meta 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