'John Candy: I Like Me' review: Genuinely moving documentary about comedy legend

WHAT IT'S ABOUT In the best scene of John Candy's best movie, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," Steve Martin's Neal Page berates Candy's Del Griffith, exasperated by their pre-Thanksgiving travel ordeal.

"I like me," Del says in response. "My wife likes me. My customers like me 'cause I'm the real article. What you see is what you get."

A new documentary about the late comedy icon relies on expansive testimony from his family and friends, both famous and not, to argue that moment epitomized Candy as an actor and a person. 

"John Candy: I Like Me," directed by the veteran actor Colin Hanks, tells Candy's story from his childhood in Toronto through his ascension in the comedy ranks with Second City and his movie stardom. Interviews with his wife, children and childhood friends depict a man who strove to maintain a normal life and to be healthy while coping with the pressures of a fast-paced Hollywood existence.

MY SAY Candy died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43. But he was such a timeless actor, with such a natural and empathetic screen presence, that if you watch his movies, it doesn't feel like you've stepped into some sort of time capsule. It seems like he's still here.

That same impression shines through in the documentary, thanks to Hanks' astute recognition of the parallels between the man and his characters, and his assembly of an exceptional roster of people to share their own remembrances. 

The movie frames Candy's story around a seminal tragedy: the death of his own father from a heart attack at the age of 35, when Candy was just 5 years old. This would shape the rest of his life, according to those who knew him best. In his early 30s, Candy already felt he was on borrowed time.

Hanks finds the essence of the movie in its exploration of that vulnerability, and in the ways it impacted Candy as a father, friend,  husband and  actor. He connects it directly to Candy's finest work, not only in "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," but in a movie like "Uncle Buck," in which the star worked closely with children. Macaulay Culkin, one of his little co-stars in that film, recalls how much it meant to him when Candy took an interest in his health and well-being off camera.

Culkin is one of a multitude of A-listers assembled by Hanks for the movie. Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks (who also happens to be Colin's father) and others all share their memories with such vivid, emotional detail, that it's clear this man remains a real presence in their lives after all these years.

But those of us who didn't know him are still left with the gift of his movies. And if "John Candy: I Like Me" inspires even one new fan to go back and check them out, it will all have been worth it.

BOTTOM LINE A genuinely moving documentary about a true legend.