André Is an Idiot

"André Is an Idiot" is a cleverly made and surprisingly touching documentary given how utterly irreverent and profane it is. It memorably chronicles the final years of eccentric advertising creative André Ricciardi, after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Some scenes look staged for comedy, but the movie has emotional authenticity. Director Tony Benna wisely spares us the gory details of how André died in favor of showing us how André lived, both before and after cancer. And what a life it was, void of convention and rife with creativity to give us a delightful and disturbing portrait of a quirky and likable funnyman finding the humor in a death sentence, his friends and family. From the very first moment we meet André, we are introduced to a man of many fascinating contradictions. He’s audacious, punk rock, has a bit of a bad drug problem, has an irreverent sense of humor, and is just capable enough at what he does. He doesn’t seem to want much at the end of the day. Good friends, good food, and a good laugh, and he seems satisfied. André is a little off-kilter, and he prefers to live his life a little differently than most. And as it turns out, that includes his death as well. We learn a lot about André very early in the film. We learn that he fell into advertising, kind of on a whim, and just so happened to be pretty good at it. We learn that he married his bartender so she could get a green card, and they ended up falling in love and having two kids. We also learn that his kids refer to him by his first name, and they don’t really hug much. And we also learn that André is dying from stage four colon cancer. "Andre is an Idiot" is many things at once. It is the slow process of dying and grieving. It is a celebration of a life lived. It is a comedy sketch. It is one man’s last hurrah on this planet. It is almost a grotesque, voyeuristic insight into a person’s final days. It is also a testament to the value and veracity of the power of the human spirit. And maybe most importantly, it is a PSA for every man over 40 to get their colonoscopy. André is called an idiot by his mom because colon cancer is one of the easiest cancers to treat if caught early. He even had a friend who suggested going to get a colonoscopy together a year prior, which André, of course, refused. This becomes one of the major focuses of the film, as anyone out there who may be too uneasy about someone peeking in your rectum. It’s an uncomfortable 20 minutes, or it’s the end of your life. Should be an easy decision. The film, and André for that matter, uses humor quite often. Not as a crutch or a shield, but as a way of looking at the world and his place in it. Throughout the film, Andre narrates several comedic scenarios set to animation, whether it’s a character he makes out of his hair falling out or a game show idea about people picking better ways to kill him other than cancer. These moments are both humorous and somber as they reflect his refusal to be sad about his impending death, but also his refusal to allow anybody else to be sad about it either. For everyone else, they are going through the 7 stages of grief, but André got past denial and bargaining pretty early. He’s halfway through acceptance, and we’ve only reached the 30-minute mark. The rest of the film feels like everyone else catching up, and Andre is slowing down to let them. As far as the humor goes, there’s one moment that is genuinely played for laughs, and it’s when André and his friends in advertising come up with a clever ad campaign to get more people to get a colonoscopy check. They use different objects that look similar to butt holes as a way of connecting the two. The imagery and the message use humor in a clever way to highlight not only André’s view of the world, but also to leave a lasting impression on the world before he goes. "Andre is an Idiot" is ultimately a sad story. We are watching a man slowly wither and die before us, but he never stops smiling, he never stops laughing, and he eventually learns to hug his kids. It’s a tender portrait of a man, his life, and his choices, some great, others quite idiotic. But it’s a life with love, no matter what. And it’s one we could all take more than one lesson from.