Carrey is Incredible

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 1999)

As this film indicates, there were two kinds of people when it came to Andy Kaufman. Those who got it, and those who didn't. Most reviews I have read said this movie is funny, but there are others that just don't get it. When I saw the movie, about 3/4 of the theater laughed with me, while others did not. So let's make it clear. If you did not like Andy Kaufman, or at least did not find him interesting, you will not like this movie.
However, if you were amongst Group A of Andy viewers, go see this movie. Never before has a star of a movie been more deserving of the phrase "(Actor) is (Character)" than Jim Carrey in his incredible portrayal of Andy. It's just about perfect. Voices, mannerisms, even eye movements. A lot of times you see biographies of famous people and you can't get the fact that it isn't the real person on screen out of your head. Not in "Man On The Moon." After all, Jim Carrey is Andy Kaufman.
The rest of the performances are strong, and so is Foreman's direction. Another criticism of the film I've read quite a bit of is that the film does not offer enough insight into Kaufman's head, instead just giving a "best of" series of his material. To that I offer that Kaufman was so insane and obsessed with keeping the audience guessing that what he was "really" like is irrelevant; or perhaps that the "real Andy" wasn't much more than the sum total of Latka and Tony and who knows who else.
Though it's just my opinion, while watching, I kind of got the feeling that the film was constructed like one big gag that Andy would pull. You think you're in on it, you laugh, then you think it isn't real, you stop, then you think it's a joke, then you don't know what is what. Reality and performance are blurred and by the end, who knows what is what. And that's just the way Andy would have wanted it.