Reality is an illusion. Mess with it!

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2000)

I loved Andy Kaufmann on taxi. Apparently he was not thrilled doing it. "Man On The Moon" is a must see for anyone serious about comedy. I know something is good when the hair on the back of my neck stands up. It happened while watching this movie. Jim Carrey plays Andy Kaufmann so seamlessly that the character you see is Andy not Jim Carrey playing Andy. A similar experience for me was when Anthony Hopkins played Nixon in "Nixon". Because Andy believes that reality is an illusion he feels compelled to mess with it. Damn the torpedos! Straight ahead. Screw them if they can't take a joke. Silence is humorous. Excruciating dead air silence is even funnier. If you have never seen a lounge lizard then you have to see this movie for more reasons than I am able to mention. I loved how Andy was always bucking the establishment. He was not only marching to a different drummer he was in a totally different band. If rules are made then more often than not they should be broken. Amazingly humor and chaos are often the by-products. If he stirs up extreme antipathy, all the better. I will not spoil the extravaganza part of the movie but it is amazing. Andy has the sensibility of a child at Christmas who leaves Santa milk and cookies. Andy is in bad shape with a rare form of cancer and decides to go to the Philippines for a miracle "cure". After waiting in line for a very long time, it is his turn to be "operated" on. When he is on the table he notices "his tumor" being palmed by the "surgeon". I am sure that the macabre humor of just another reality illusion is not lost on him. It is very sad that Andy dies so young but his funeral is a blast. Andy could honestly say that he did it his way.