MJ5K's Review

Summary - Really Great 4.5

Andy Kaufman was no comedian. Andy was a “song-and-dance man”. Some people loved him. Some people loathed him. No matter how you felt about Andy’s avant garde style, there’s no denying one thing: The man was a genius. Whether it was his Latka character on Taxi, his singing of Mighty Mouse on Saturday Night Live, or his many wrestling matches, the man was an insane visionary. And who better than to bring the legend to life than Jim Carrey and director Milos Forman. The result: Man on the Moon.

Ever since Andy was a kid, he loved to perform. Whether it was in front of a wall or in front of a one-person audience, the guy was born to perform. Andy gets a start playing comedy clubs, even though nobody totally understands his sense of humor. Then one night, Andy is discovered by producer George Shapiro, who gets Andy onto the ABC show Taxi. Although Andy becomes famous from this, he despises the show and the role. With the help of Shapiro, best friend Bob Zmuda, and girlfriend Lynn Marguiles, Andy leads an extravagant and eccentric career over the course of the late 70’s and early 80’s before dying of cancer in 1984 (it’s not a spoiler, this is a true story).

Let me just say this right now: Jim Carrey gives what is, in my opinion, the best performance of his entire acting career. Carrey has always been one of my favorite actors. Aside from Robin Williams, Carrey is the only actor I know of who can pull off a hilarious comedic performance and still give a compelling and emotional dramatic performance. Someone once said “To call Jim’s performance ‘impersonation’, is completely missing the point.” Carrey actually got into Kaufman’s persona. He wore the Kaufman character like a second skin. Hell, everytime I watch Taxi now, I can’t tell whether that’s Andy Kaufman or Jim Carrey. In all, he was amazing. Danny Devito and Paul Giamatti also give great supporting work as friends George Shapiro and Bob Zmuda. And yes, even Courtney Love (ugh) gives a decent performance.

Milos Forman delivers solid direction. He’s able to mix comedy and drama to equal extents and the pay-off works. However, he does, as expected, take some liberties with the facts of the story. For example, there’s a huge concert Andy puts on after finding out he has cancer. In actuality, that concert took place four years prior to him even knowing he had cancer. But again, with every biopic, this is expected. The music by R.E.M. also serves the movie well. The film’s title actually comes from their song that was written all about Kaufman.

Overall, Man on the Moon is one of the finest biopics ever, one of the most underrated films ever, and one of the best films of the 1990’s. Without Carrey’s brilliant performance and Forman’s direction, the film wouldn’t have been able to establish the legend that it is Andy Kaufman.

Acting - Great 4.0

Film - Really Great 4.5

Edge - Sordid 2.8

Reality - Glib 1.1

1 Comment

• Wick Oct 22, 2011 5:29AM

  Regarding MJ5K’s Review
  Great review MJ. While I was an anti-Andy Kaufman fan, I am a fan of Jim Carrey, Milos Foreman and REM, yet never managed to see this movie. Now I realize I need to rectify that situation.

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