I love discovering a movie that I never heard of, particularly if it features one of my favorite actors. I recently stumbled upon a 1991 comedy called Delirious, starring the late great John Candy. By this point in Candy’s career, his major movie successes were behind him. Tragically, he would be dead in a few years.
In Delirious, Candy plays Jack Gates, a soap opera writer. After a car crash, he wakes up trapped in the world of his own show.
Why haven’t you heard of Delirious? Because it’s not very good. This is a pallid entry on Candy’s illustrious resume. The movie plays like a turgid episode of those crappy Twilight Zone reboots, especially those “comedic” episodes. The screenplay wrings the one joke from its one-note premise early and the comedic conceit—a “real person” living in the exaggerated realm of a soap opera — rapidly wears thin.
Hardcore John Candy lovers need only watch. Like many of his lesser films, Candy’s endearing performance elevates the decaying material, filling in the story’s many cavities. Candy’s acting towers over everything and everyone else, despite an excellent group of actors supporting him. They include Mariel Hemingway, Dylan Baker (Dr. Conners of the Tobey Maguire-Spider-Man films), and Charles Rocket (Max and Dani’s dad in Hocus Pocus).
Notably, Delirious is one of the few movies directed by Tom Mankiewicz, better known as the screenwriter of several Bond films, such as Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With the Golden Gun. Mankiewicz also provided uncredited writing contributions to Superman: The Movie (directed by Richard Donner, who produced Delirious).
Delirious will never rank highly on the CVs of anyone involved. But if like me, you cried when John Candy died, then you will certainly want to check this one out.
-T.Z.
