Who is Andy Kaufman?

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2000)

Some called him a genius; others thought him insane. Myself, I would say unfunny. Of course, I'm talking about Jim Carrey. And it's only appropriate, I guess, that Carrey would play the part of Andy Kaufman, who falls under the same criteria. Milos Forman gives Carrey full rein with the role of Kaufman and Carrey delivers. The film itself, though, is more of a mixed bag. You have to be familiar with Kaufman to really appreciate the film.
Things start out in a Kaufmanesqe manner in a great opening that sets up the tone. Kaufman addresses the crowd directly to tell them a bit what the film is about. I won't give anything away, but this seemed to divide the audience immediately. Some found it hilarious, some were puzzled, and some were expecting a Jim Carrey film. They were unhappy when they didn't get it.
From there we go to Andy's childhood as we see him perform to his bedroom wall. Eventually, he gets nerve to perform on a stage, though things are lass than ideal for him as the manager tells him he isn't funny. But Andy's a survivor and he eventually wows a club with his Elvis act. Robert Shapiro (Danny DeVito) sees him and decides to take him under his wing as manager. Don't say he didn't get warned.
Andy then makes it big on the television show "Taxi" as mechanic Latka Gravas. Andy's experiences on the set are nicely dramatized in a clever montage featuring Judd Hirsch and Marilu Henner in their old roles of Alex Reiger and Elaine Nardo. Things seem to be going well, that is until Shapiro gets introduced to Andy's protege, the obnoxious Tony Clifton. To make matters worse for Shapiro (and heavenly for Andy) it seems that Andy Kaufman has found his calling, namely wrestling women. However, Andy gets more than he bargained for when he crosses paths with professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Finally, in the early 80s, Andy gets diagnosed with lung cancer. Andy tries all sorts of exotic treatments to cure his cancer, and in one painful moment all of his hucksterism and pulling-the-strings comes back to play a cruel joke. Andy's response? Laughter. He appreciates a good joke, even if it is life-or-death.
Forman's biography is not as illuminating into the mind of Kaufman as he makes it out to be. And I suppose it's just as well, the only one who totally knew Andy was Andy. Still, this film is a nice introduction to Kaufman and why he was more than just "Latka on Taxi."
But will people care? That I'm not so sure about. What I found interesting, at least with the audience I saw it with, was that more people were laughing at the "ordinary" behavior of Kaufman more than his act. For instance, many people thought a dinner between Andy and Shapiro was hilarious and a scene where Andy reads "The Great Gatsby" from front-to-back was stupid. One thing that bothered me was the reaction to his belief in transcendental meditation. Many in the audience got a kick out of seeing Andy with the weirdly dressed gurus. I was straight-faced because to Andy TM was serious and I respected that.
There is also a kind of fairy tale like feel to the story which I found to be distracting. But then one could make the argument that Andy saw his life as a fairy tale and that's fine. Still I had to keep reminding myself that Andy Kaufman did exist, that he did wrestle women, that he stretched performance art to its limits, and that he died of lung cancer. I wonder if people who went for Jim Carrey and not for Andy Kaufman understood all that.
As for Kaufman's place in stand-up history...let me put it this way, no one currently in stand-up is doing what he did, which says something. Lenny Bruce, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Albert Brooks have all stuck with anecdotal, observational, and social humor. Kaufman didn't tell jokes. In fact, Kaufman did everything possible to not let humor be the end-all be-all of his act. It was reaction that he sought, whether it be a groan, a curse, applause or laughter. To him failure was success. He was basically a behaviorist.
Now whether non-fans will see all that, I don't know. In explaining him to one person I know, I used his "Mighty Mouse" act where Kaufman just stands there for three minutes, then he puts on the song and mouths the words on "Here I come to save the day!" She just looked at me, "That's just stupid." On the other hand, I took a guy to see it and he thought Kaufman wasn't funny at all. After the movie, he looks at me and says, "I get it now. I get what he was trying to do."
Andy would be proud.
Man on the Moon ***