“Death is surprisingly boring.” according to André Ricciardi, the personality-plus advertising smart-ass who loved to laugh. He was funny, self-deprecating, and an irreverent procrastinator who delayed having a colonoscopy for a year and a half only to find out he had stage 4 colon cancer. André was Mr. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda and wanted to let people know with this film that putting things off may not be in your best interest. Intensely creative and realistic, he wanted to make a funny movie about his journey to warn others to take the test while living life, having fun with family and friends in the process.
André was a stimulating, smart and clever ad man, who invented Terror Marketing. So he hired another San Francisco advertising creative he worked with named Tony Benna to direct a film about his odyssey with cancer. He knew Benna would not be afraid to do anything, include throwing in his excellent animation, to show this serious situation as funny, and truly a comedy of errors. It’s all of that and more. The film is a 4-year-journey following fun-loving André with his wife, Janice, and daughters, and his best friend Lee Einhorn documenting his “Oh, well” situation with personal stories, adventurous trips, thoughtful and emotional reflection along with laugh out loud moments.
Watch our interview with Director Tony Benna talking about knowing André and making the film together following the ups and downs of his emotions as André deals with life and what’s next. Benna even tells a little off-color story showing André’s wild sense of humor.
An eccentric with a head of wild gray hair who loved life, André saved all kinds of kitsch memorabilia, always ready for anything, even his spontaneous marriage. Janice was a bartender from Canada who was about to be deported and needed someone to marry to get a green card. André was there for a drink and volunteered!
They fell in love, became devoted to each other having a lot of spur of the moment fun, including appearing on The Dating Game which André admitted they developed a code to rig the system and won! Janice is savvy and showing unwavering commitment. Their two daughters are also very loving, but André and the girls made the point that they were not demonstrative huggers.
André was exciting, and used his innovative genius to put humor into his cautionary tale of not taking care of your health and the consequences. You’ll be glad you got to know him, even knowing the outcome doesn’t diminish the sadness. Andre called himself an idiot, but lived life, and death, on his own terms, and making us laugh at his folly is anything but stupid.
A24 1 hour 28 minutes Not Rated.
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