Man
on the Moon
(1999)
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour and 58 Minutes
Reviewer: Erik
Grade: B+I walked into "Man On The Moon" not knowing much about Andy Kaufman. Sure, I've seen the wrestling clips and the bizarre "Mighty Mouse" bit on Saturday Night Live, but that's about it. When the movie ended, I still wasn't really sure what made this guy tick. The thing is, nobody really knows. He was a complicated guy, very difficult to figure out. Yet this movie works. I can't help but think Kaufman would have wanted it this way.
The movie stars Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, in a role that's sure to get him an Oscar nod.
We see the young Kaufman as a child who'd rather perform bits for the imaginary cameras in his bedroom wall than play outside, and from there we make the jump to his standup routine in the L.A. club circuit.
We learn very early on that Kaufman is never really sure what's funny and what's not. He bores the hell out of a crowd by singing children's songs. And when opts for a more traditional standup schtick, it's not funny. We laugh because it's bad. Then he turns the tables by doing an Elvis impression. And we laugh because it's funny. At any given point, he could either have the audience laughing or groaning.
He's discovered by George Shapiro (Danny DeVito), who's interested in this oddball act.
Shapiro gets Kaufman the gig on "Taxi", but Andy won't take it unless he gets his own special for the network. Andy hates sitcoms, but sticks with it to do his special. The special never airs, because it's just too odd to be aired.
Andy turns to professional wrestling. It's here, and during a feud with pro wrestler Jerry Lawler, that he meets Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love), the girl who eventually becomes his girlfriend. She, too, cannot figure him out.
Kaufman was a practical joker who burned the tabloids with fake stories and got many people to believe his lies. You never knew whether Andy was lying to you or not. There are many pranks in the movie which turn out to be fixed events. Perhaps the best scene in the movie is one where Andy and his alter-ego Tony Clifton show up on stage at the same time and get into a fight. Clifton, who is usually Andy himself, is played by Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti) in the act. When Andy tells Shapiro that the whole thing was a joke, Shapiro says, "It's a joke that's funny to only two people...YOU TWO!" If Kaufman thought something was funny, he didn't care if he was the only one laughing.
The last half-hour of the movie shows Andy in his last days, fighting cancer as best he could. And there's a funeral scene that's touching and sad.
The only real downside to the movie is that Courtney Love's character wasn't well-developed enough. Their relationship moves along at breakneck speed, and we're never really sure why they ended up together.
But the movie hits the right notes. A movie that attempted to provide all the answers would feel phony. "Man On The Moon" gives us all a better understanding of Andy Kaufman, but isn't foolish enough to promise us things that nobody will truly get.