Film Review: ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT
by Karen Pecota

Tony Benna, USA 2025

André Ricciardi spent a good part of his life as a creative director in advertising that included award-winning work for well-known brands like Nike, eBay, Google, Pepsi, and 20th Century Fox. The latter part of his career opened doors for him to develop more edgy projects where his work inspired the term “Terror Marketing” to be coined in advertising. Defying convention his whole life this description seemed to fit his personality, but it wasn’t always easy for him to have such a reputation. According to those who knew him well, his sense of humor, candor, and irreverence gave him the confidence to rise above any negativity in his professional life.

The same appears to be true in his personal life.  André is diagnosed with a terminal disease due to disregarding timely colonoscopy testing and is dying. He decides to document his journey and filmmaker Tony Benna agrees to travel this road with him in ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT.

Benna says, “True to form, André approaches mortality with his trademark humor and curiosity, determined to learn how to die both happily and ridiculously.” The two show the audience a memorable human experience preparing for death with inappropriate humor, resilience, challenges, and joy. Benna says that while we are prone not to talk about illness or death, we need to because it’s a part of life that can be openly celebrated, and at times joked about.

My first reaction to the beginning of the film was that the title is totally appropriate. I wasn’t sure I’d last through the whole experience; but I was slowly wooed by André’s stories, his transparency, and his reflections on life. It caught me off guard as I engaged in gut-filled laughter to tears of sadness in a matter of minutes. Yes, André is an idiot but not in the way you might imagine. André shows us how to embrace the beauty of dying because we will all be there one day.

At the end of the journey with André he had accomplished his lifelong dream of making a film. He could not have imagined it would be about him in the last phase of his life. But, truth be told, ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT is his best advertisement campaign for a message of lasting impact. Totally unforgettable!

Sundance Film Festival 2025 Winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: US Documentary, and Audience Award: US Documentary