ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT
(The New/Next Film Festival took place October 2-5 in Baltimore, MD which just happens to be home base for our Lead Critic, Chris Reed. Check out his André Is an Idiot movie review! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
In the new documentary André Is an Idiot, protagonist André Ricciardi is, in fact, something of an idiot. He is also much more than that: a husband, father, brother, friend creative advertising producer, and general fount of sardonic irreverence. Sadly, as we watch events unfold onscreen in this simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting film, he is also a cancer patient, having neglected to get a colonoscopy at 50. Given that colon cancer, if caught early, is extremely easy to treat successfully, he is, therefore, above all, an idiot.
Director Tony Benna, making his feature debut, allows André to speak his mind and tell it like it is, which is often very funny. André is constitutionally unable to not turn everything into a joke. As a result, this tale of impending death is chock full of ribald and warm humor that takes the journey nowhere near the maudlin destination one might expect given the subject.
Thanks to a strong archival record and well-shot new footage, accompanied by a moving score from composer Dan Deacon (Rez Ball), we see André in the past and present in all his acerbic glory. We also meet his wife, Janice; their two daughters, Tallula and Delilah; his brother, Nick; best friend, Lee; and many others, including legendary comedian Tommy Chong (you’ll have to watch to find out why that last one makes an appearance). Everyone gathers to honor the man they cherish, while he riffs on every stupid thing he’s ever done (with a few smart decisions in the mix).
Movies about people navigating their own demise are not new. A few years ago, the equally excellent Jack Has a Plan followed its own titular main character—also, like André, from the San Francisco Bay Area—as he chose to terminate his own life after a long-dormant tumor returned. Here, André opts to fight it out, but the narrative trajectory is not entirely dissimilar. What makes André’s odyssey especially noteworthy is his wit and sarcasm, powerful tools in his arsenal of charm, that only begin to diminish as the end approaches.
Before then, we are treated to poignant scenes of family dynamics, in the now and then, where, despite André’s penchant to make light of this world, his clear love for wife and children—and theirs for him—becomes ever more evident with every quip uttered (and they give as good as they get from André). Dying itself is no cause for celebration, but finding comfort in the joys of everyday pleasures and the extraordinary opportunities of ordinary experiences is more than enough reason to cheer. And in André Is an Idiot, we do just that, laughing and crying along the way.
Check out Jack Schenker’s interview with Tony Benna at the 2025bSundance Film Festival.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
New/Next Film Festival; Tony Benna; André Is an Idiot movie review
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