Andy Kaufman's gift is rediscovered for a new generation

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 1999)

Many moviegoers today would not have seen Andy Kaufman's first startling appearances on Saturday Night Live, where he would do the shy, awkward European immigrant and then go into an amazing Elvis impression. When he burst on the scene there was no one like him and the world wasn't sure how to react to his humour sometimes. We would get used to the cute immigrant character, and then he'd be someone else.
He never wanted to stand still in his career, going from one stunt to the next, and like Rick Nelson's lament in "Garden Party", irritated at those who only wanted him to be Latka. He didn't want to do the show Taxi and agreed to do it only to get his own special - which the network balked at even airing as it wasn't mainstream enough. Now his kind of originality is more appreciated and so the time was right for making a movie celebrating this misunderstood and previously almost forgotten comic.

Andy's later stage act of wrestling women, and the limited role in "Taxi", did not make him into a superstar like Jim Carrey is now. He did not play by the rules and so showbiz did not reward him, nor was his range as broad or appealing as Carrey's, but he had a gentle and quirky vision of wanting to affect his audiences. It is fitting that Carrey recognized Andy's genius and chose to play this role, as they both started out with dreams of being famous entertainers, and one of them didn't quite reach the heights, but left a puzzling body of work that this film attempts to explore.

As a true homage to Andy, Jim Carrey brings him to life for a whole new generation. And those who did follow Andy Kaufman during his career will shed a tear at the behind-the-scenes look at how hard it was for him to maintain artistic integrity in a business that wanted him to be like everyone else.
Because this movie just came out today, I will not discuss anything that might spoil the experience for moviegoers. Thus my remarks must remain incomplete and I am chiefly here to say: please see this movie if you like biographies of strong-willed but misunderstood people, or if you love Jim Carrey, or are at all interested, even mildly, in Andy Kaufman and what he was all about. You will laugh and cry, and be uncomfortable. It will not leave you unmoved.
I also want to call your attention to director Milos Forman's other movie "Hair"; if you loved it you will appreciate Man on the Moon . Hair was a very personal retelling of the famous stage play, and Forman brought his own grace and style to it.
Man on the Moon makes sparing but careful use of REM's beautiful song, which is featured in the TV ads. It is touching to reflect that this song was written about Andy years ago by someone who wanted to keep his name alive, and only now on seeing the movie will the song take on its full meaning to listeners who didn't know who Andy was.
Like Hair, It is an amazingly executed movie. I fear that Jim Carrey's performance may not win an Oscar nod because they generally turn up their noses at impersonations (although Ben Kingsley was rewarded for his impression of Gandhi). But Carrey deserves a nomination because he truly captures Andy Kaufman, the driven man in motion. The material never drags; rather it is a tale respectfully told of a life lived like a meteorite. It might have been filmed in a number of ways - more comic, more tragic, but Forman shows all the complexities of the human being behind the public persona.
A beauty, well worth seeing, and if there are flaws in the telling, as in Titanic, they don't matter because it's a real charmer.