‘John Candy: I Like Me’ review: Colin Hanks doc pays warm tribute to Canadian comedy legend

Dir: Colin Hanks. US. 113mins

John Sweet: I Like Me is an interesting, in the end melancholy tribute to the late Canadian comedian. Gathering pals and colleagues to recollect Sweet, who died in 1994 aged 43, Colin Hanks presents a bittersweet documentary a few funnyman who liked making individuals pleased however couldn’t at all times do the identical for himself. Though a considerably standard portrait, the movie works greatest as a lament for a gifted actor who struggled to achieve his full potential earlier than passing away far too younger.

Hanks resists delving too deeply into any of Sweet’s attainable demons

Sweet grew up in and round Toronto, which makes this a becoming opening-night choice for the Toronto Movie Pageant. Streaming on Prime Video from October 10, I Like Me accommodates interviews with such comedy luminaries as Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Invoice Murray and Catherine O’Hara, who converse with infinite affection in regards to the late star of hits like Splash and Planes, Trains & Cars. Ryan Reynolds serves as producer, including to the documentary’s high-profile cachet, and Sweet’s followers will take pleasure in this sentimental journey by his life and footage.

Early in I Like Me, Murray jokingly confesses that it’s arduous to search out something salacious or destructive to say about Sweet. The remainder of the documentary backs up Murray’s declare, presenting us with a wealth of actors, childhood family and friends members who provide up solely glowing feedback. After the movie opens with Sweet’s 1994 loss of life from a coronary heart assault, the numerous speaking heads then flesh out his Canadian upbringing and his stints at Second Metropolis and the cult sketch sequence SCTV earlier than he made the leap to Hollywood. Haunted by the loss of life of his father when he was solely 5, Sweet later turned to meals, smoking and substances to fight anxiousness – though these round him principally bear in mind his candy, nurturing manner.

Hanks, whose earlier documentaries embrace All Issues Should Cross: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Data, has manufactured a sturdy, simple bundle that mixes new interviews, archival clips of Sweet speaking to the press and scenes from his work. With composer Tyler Strickland overly underlining the specified viewers responses — sunny music when Sweet is a rising star; mawkish melodies when Sweet wrestles with poor well being — Hanks’ enthusiastic, uncomplicated salute preaches to the transformed whereas offering a brisk overview for these unfamiliar with Sweet’s legacy.

A part of memorable movies equivalent to Stripe sand Residence Alone, Sweet was beforehand related to the wave of thrilling new Canadian comics of the late Nineteen Seventies who helped outline that period’s sketch humour, alongside the slicker, extra widespread American programme Saturday Night time Reside. O’Hara is joined by Eugene Levy, Martin Quick and others who additionally sprang up at the moment, which permits I Like Me to double as a mini-history of a regional comedic hotbed. Sweet’s SCTV segments stay hilarious, greater than holding their very own together with his well-known movie scenes.

The documentary’s most poignant part considerations Sweet’s lifelong battle together with his weight — and the insensitive remarks journalists would make about his massive body. Sweet’s pained expression as he tries to placed on a contented face is heartbreaking. Sweet’s widow Rosemary recollects how he would attempt to shed kilos, solely to be instructed by Hollywood executives that his model was to be heavy. Mates point out how Sweet would cease seeing medical doctors who suggested him to chop again on his dangerous habits as a result of he didn’t wish to heed their warnings.

Hanks resists delving too deeply into any of Sweet’s attainable demons. We hear a bit in regards to the lack of self-confidence that bedeviled him, even when he was a serious star. The documentary hyperlinks the roots of such points — in addition to his addictions — to the trauma of his dad’s passing, though we hear no nightmarish tales of unruly, drugged-out shenanigans or lecherous behaviour. (Certainly, Hanks’ speaking heads sing the praises of Sweet and his spouse’s contented long-term marriage, a Hollywood rarity.)

I Like Me’s lack of darkness can go away the movie’s later stretches feeling repetitive, with one well-known individual after one other extolling Sweet’s kindness and brilliance. (Maybe not surprisingly, Sweet’s spouse and youngsters are co-executive producers.) But it surely feels churlish to complain too loudly in regards to the monotony of such fond reminiscences. Greater than 30 years later, so a lot of John Sweet’s family members nonetheless have a tough time saying goodbye — and that in itself is a touching tribute.