Maybe there was no "real" Andy Kaufman. Maybe he was different. His movie certainly was.

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2001)

Andy Kaufman was a complicated individual - that much is certain. Whether Milos Forman's Man in the Moon is a fitting or even proper tribute to him is not.
Jim Carrey amazes the audience with his portrayal of the late comic who wasn't really a comic at all. Kaufman believed himself to be a performance artist. He wasn't trying to make people laugh; he admits in the movie he doesn't know what funny is. Instead, he simply wanted a reaction from them. Whether he was booed or cheered was a moot point with Kaufman. "Every time I go on stage, the audience expects me to shock them," he says in the movie. Unfortunately, great movies, regardless of subject matter, make you cheer, and Man on the Moon leaves you puzzled.
Perhaps the filmmakers simply wanted to puzzle; that was really the true essence of Kaufman. Audiences eventually grew weary of his pranks and shenanigans, and the movie audience does the same.
The movie's first few scenes are well done, leading up to the meat of the film. You know, the part where the writers explain why Andy Kaufman was the way he was. Except that never happens. Midway through the movie, I thought to myself, I am learning a few things about Andy that I didn't know before, but I still don't know why he did them. The same question perplexed me as I exited the theatre.
Man on the Moon is not a bad movie. The film succeeds in telling Kaufman's story, somewhat from an objective, third-person point of view. But that is really the problem: people don't go to movies to brush up on their history, they go to learn about what makes people tick. They go to meet the real person, but they won't meet him in Man on the Moon. Says Carrey to his girlfriend, played by Courtney Love, "You don't know the real me." She replies, "There isn't a real you." He replies, "Oh yeah - I forgot."

Is this the writers' excuse for the lack of substance, or is it really true? Of course, most people believe that each person has an "inner self," no matter what they show the world. Maybe there was no "real" Andy Kaufman. Maybe he was different. His movie certainly was.