If You Were an '80s Kid, John Candy Raised You
Let me take you back.
Uncle Buck. Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Cool Runnings. Home Alone. The Great Outdoors. Spaceballs. SCTV. Summer Rental.
John Candy wasn't just in movies you watched. He was IN your childhood. He was the warm, chaotic, lovable presence that made you feel safe even when he was playing characters who absolutely should not be trusted with children or motor vehicles.
He was your fun uncle. Your dad's goofy friend. The guy who'd show up to Christmas dinner and make everyone laugh until they couldn't breathe.
For kids growing up in the '80s and early '90s, John Candy was comfort. He was joy. He was proof that being a little messy, a little rough around the edges, a little too much - that was okay. That was lovable.
And then he died at 43 in 1994, and a generation of kids had to process grief for someone they'd never met but somehow knew intimately.
What The Documentary Gets Right
I Like Me doesn't try to sanitize John Candy or turn him into a saint. It shows you the real person - the insecurities, the struggles, the toll that being "the funny guy" took on him.
His son Chris Candy says it plainly: "If you go a whole lifetime eating your feelings, drinking your feelings, smoking your nerves, it shows up."
That hit hard. Because, as kids, we just saw the funny man who made us laugh. We didn't see the person behind the performance struggling with weight, with self-doubt, with the pressure of always having to be "on."
The documentary lets you see both - the genius comedian and the vulnerable human. And somehow that makes you love him more, not less.
The Stories That Break You
The funeral detail that got me: His funeral shut down the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. That's only happened three times in LA history.
THREE TIMES. That's a city stopping to mourn someone who genuinely mattered to them.
The documentary is full of moments like that - stories from people whose lives he touched, often without even realizing it. Acts of kindness. Moments of generosity. The way he made people feel seen and valued.
Reviews say, "You will tear up, especially if you were raised on his work," and yeah, that's a promise.
Why '80s Kids Need To Watch This
If you were born in the '80s, you grew up in the last era before irony poisoned everything. Before snark became the default mode. Before, kindness was seen as weakness.
Watching this documentary as an adult, you realize how RARE John was. How special it was to have someone like him dominating comedy during your formative years.
He taught a generation of kids that you could be funny and kind. Successful and humble. Flawed and still worthy of love.
In 2025, when everything feels cynical and performative, revisiting John Candy feels like coming home.
The Uncle Buck Effect
Uncle Buck is probably his most defining role for '80s kids. A messy, irresponsible adult suddenly tasked with caring for kids - and against all odds, becoming exactly what they needed.
That movie works because John Candy made you believe Buck genuinely loved those kids. Not in a sappy, movie way. In a real, flawed, "I'm going to screw this up, but I'm trying my hardest" way.
We didn't have the language for it then, but what we were responding to was authenticity. John Candy made Buck feel REAL. Messy and flawed and ultimately good.
That's what made him special. That's what made him irreplaceable. I loved him as Barf in Spaceballs. He was unique in ways no other comedian could actually be.
What We Lost
John Candy died at 43. He should be 74 now. He should have had decades more of making people feel things through laughter.
The documentary doesn't shy away from that tragedy - the "what ifs," the roles he could have played, the life he could have lived if he'd been able to quiet the demons that drove him to self-destruct.
But it also celebrates what we DID get. The legacy he left. The way he changed comedy by refusing to be cynical or cruel.
For '80s kids, watching this documentary is processing grief we didn't fully understand when we were young. It's honoring someone who shaped our childhoods without us even realizing the depth of impact.
John Candy: I Like Me is essential viewing for anyone born in the '80s. Not just because it's a good documentary (it is). But because it's a chance to say goodbye properly to someone who was there for your entire childhood.
And you'll feel grateful that someone like John Candy existed. That, for a brief, shining moment, the funniest guy in the room was also the kindest.
Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds did something special here. They didn't just make a documentary about a comedian. They made a tribute to warmth itself.
For those of us who grew up wrapped in that warmth, watching it feels like being seven years old again, sitting too close to the TV, watching Uncle Buck for the hundredth time, and feeling completely safe.
That's the gift John Candy gave us.
This documentary reminds us why we loved him. And why we always will.