John Candy: I Like Me Review — Finally, the Heartfelt, Star-Packed Celebration a Comedy Genius Deserves

John Candy has that rare, stubborn kind of screen presence that refuses to fade, even decades after 1994. A new documentary, 'John Candy: I Like Me,' aims less to sell you on his talent (we were sold a long time ago) and more to show you the person underneath: generous, scared sometimes, and somehow even warmer off camera than on. Colin Hanks directs, brings in an enviable lineup of friends and collaborators, and leans hard into the feelings Candy stirred up in basically everyone who crossed his path.

What the doc actually does

Hanks opens with a quick jolt of Bill Murray being Bill Murray, then lands a gut punch via Dan Aykroyd delivering a eulogy that will put a lump in your throat within the first 15 minutes. From there, the film rewinds to Candy’s childhood, including the early loss of his father and how that shaped him. He became the guy who lit up rooms, made friends with everybody, and eventually turned that empathy-first personality into superstardom.

The storytelling is traditional: lots of archive photos and video, and a big stack of talking heads. That standard biodoc shape is all here—the grind, the breakouts, and, yes, the tragedy—but the access is outstanding. Hanks clearly earned trust, and the interviews feel personal rather than perfunctory.

The screen legacy, through the work

The film keeps circling back to how Candy performed: he listened. You can feel it in those scenes that still sting or comfort. 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' lets him play both grief and unshakable self-worth. In 'Home Alone', his brief turn exists purely to steady a frantic mother. Mel Brooks even makes him a literal best friend in 'Spaceballs'. The doc argues—pretty convincingly—that Candy’s secret weapon was empathy, and that his bond with audiences (what we’d now label a parasocial connection) came from that active-listener energy he radiated.

The person everyone keeps talking about

Off camera, the stories align: the guy you loved on screen is the guy people met in real life. The film drops a handful of specific, very human moments—like Candy encouraging a young Conan O'Brien during a visit to National Lampoon’s offices—and paints a picture of someone who prioritized family, turned down big opportunities to be present at home, and showed up on sets purely to help friends, even if it meant squeezing into tiny windows of time. He died at 43, leaving behind a family and a career full of hits—more than a dozen of them—in a remarkably short run.

What works, what doesn’t

Hanks knows how to play the crowd. The nostalgia is potent, the clips are chosen with care, and the love is palpable. But the film also walks the well-trodden path of the celebrity doc. You can feel the Wikipedia outline at times. The John Hughes chapter gets the spotlight you would expect, and the talking-head sections can stretch a bit long. The tradeoff is that the interviews are unusually candid—Bill Murray, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Aykroyd, and others don’t just show up, they show up.

• Director: Colin Hanks (actor-filmmaker who clearly had the relationships to make this level of access happen)
• Key voices: Bill Murray (opens the film with a quick bit), Dan Aykroyd (delivers a devastating eulogy), Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and more
• Core theme: Candy’s empathy on screen matched the person he was off it
• Notable film moments: 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', 'Home Alone', 'Spaceballs'
• Personal anecdotes: encouraging a young Conan O'Brien; turning down big roles to prioritize his family; taking roles just to help friends
• Shape of the doc: classic rise-breakthrough-tragedy arc, heavy on archival and talking heads, but emotionally effective

So, is it worth your time?

Yeah. It’s heartfelt, sometimes manipulative in that way these things often are, but smart about why Candy mattered. The film is also just fun—packed with good stories and the kind of warmth that sneaks up on you. It makes a simple case: we lost someone whose work made us kinder, and whose life quietly reminded his friends to be honest about fear, health, and everything else that actually counts. Those lessons seem to be the point here as much as the career retrospective.

'John Candy: I Like Me' premieres on Prime Video on October 10, 2025.