A LITTLE TOO OUT THERE

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2000)

I tried to watch Man on the Moon on DVD tonight with an open mind. I tried to view the film with the expectation that something would happen in the end, but all that occurred was that the central character died, as he did so many time on stage. Man on the Moon is a well-intentioned film about controversial comedian, Andy Kaufman, but the film, like Kaufman's life, meanders through time without any particular purpose. Jim Carrey was excellent in his guise. But it was the portrayal of a mean-spirited individual, with no particular comic genius, who possessed only a desire to inflame and madden the crowd. Hurried over were the Taxi episodes, the only part of Kaufman's life, which really lent any credibility to him as a comedic talent. The rest hangs in mid air too long for too many times, leaving one with the feeling that this is nothing more than a high-budgeted television movie of the week.
The film has its brief moments and one is touched at times by Courtney Love's portrayal of Kaufman's love interest. But beyond that, Man on the Moon is rendered particularly impotent by the insertion of producer, Danny DeVito as Kaufman's agent. DeVito, a strong back to Kaufman's Latka character in Taxi, refuses, by his established presence as Louie De Palma, to allow the viewer to escape into the depths of the film. Perhaps this is for the best, though, for those are depths we had each best avoid.
Man on the Moon is a particularly droll film about a man, who, but for an accident of mirth, would have been legend. No one particularly liked Andy Kaufman as a person. I do not even think he liked himself.