Image courtesy of Joint Venture
André Ricciardi is a dying ad exec with a killer sense of humor.
If that doesn’t make you want to spend 90 minutes with him in a dark room in Harrisburg with a big screen, let me pitch him like this. André Ricciardi is like if there was a character on “Mad Men” with a temperament somewhere between Steve-O and Carell. He’s also got stage 4 terminal rectal cancer, because he didn’t feel like getting his standard recommended colonoscopy.
Tony Benna’s new documentary, “André Is an Idiot,” follows its titular subject over the course of the last few years of his life, showcasing André’s irreverent, infectious and, above all, stubborn sense of humor as he refuses to take life seriously just because he has cancer. (And the doc resonates—it took home the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival, previous winners of which include “Whiplash,” “Minari” and “CODA”).
That being said—my favorite moments come when André sets his comedic avoidance to the side for a couple of minutes to stare death in the face and see how he reacts. One such moment highlights a meeting between André and his old agency, as they collaborate on an ad campaign showcasing close-up images of everyday objects that evoke the rear end, each one labeled simply “COLONOSCOPY REMINDER.”
Another such moment is perhaps my favorite sequence in the whole film. He and his best friend—with whom André has a pact never to be treated tactfully, cancer or otherwise—meet with a guru to contemplate and practice “death yells” at the lip of a canyon. The three of them stand side by side on the cliff, casting variations of their last words into the wilderness to see which echoing words resonate with each of them.
How do I want to be remembered? Will I go into the unknown with a whimper, a battle cry, or a proverb, like a character in one of Aesop’s fables? A Porky Pig “That’s All Folks!” or a John McClane yippee-ki-yay?
You’re not reading a movie review in TheBurg for my thoughts on death—and, that being said, that’s not really what the film’s about. It’s about assured self-love in the form of pure comedy in the darkest of situations.
As I began to watch the film, I was dreading the sobering path I was going to take, watching a terminal cancer patient ultimately waste away and die, which is, reductively, what does happen in the film, and I think a trigger warning for that is in order. But it’s a testament to the film that I really can’t say I left the film on a downtrodden note. André Ricciardi and the filmmakers bring true joy to the process of death, and I think that is worth celebrating at a truly fundamental human level. Also, get your colonoscopy.
“André Is an Idiot” opens in March at Midtown Cinema.
Midtown Cinema is located at 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.midtowncinema.com. Gabriel Brown serves as assistant manager at Midtown Cinema.
March Events
at Midtown Cinema
A Red Carpet Evening
Celebrate Hollywood’s biggest night!
Tickets on sale now.
Sunday, March 15 at 6 p.m.
“The Librarians” (2025)
With post screening panel discussion
March 8, April 12, 12 p.m.
3rd in the Burg Movie Night
“National Treasure” (2004)
Friday, March 20, 9:30 p.m.
Late Night Frights
“Jacob’s Ladder” (1990)
Friday, March 27, 9:30 p.m.
National Theatre Live
“Hamlet”
Sunday, March 1 at 5 p.m.
“The Fifth Step”
Sunday, March 22 at 5 p.m.
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