DEAD JOHNS: Part One of Two

Watching Candy in this movie and in others such as Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, I am reminded of all the so- called losers I've known and loved and commiserated with in the course of my own life. It seems that the funniest and most interesting people I've had the pleasure of knowing have also been those who have harbored, and impressed me with the most pain. Not surprisingly, these are also the sorts of personalities that I tend to embrace in books and on-screen.

John Candy, whom the critic Pauline Kael once called a "modern-day Falstaff," had that special brand of charisma that made me literally want to hug him, even when he was playing at his worst. He was one of those rare talents who really could make me laugh till I felt like crying (which, let me tell you, I did profusely, five years ago at this time).

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