Honest Bio of the Strangest American Comedian -- Carey's Best Performance

Rating: 9/10 (21 November 2007)

Andy Kaufman reminds me a bit of Mozart, an enigmatic man with amazing talents but bizarre psychology. However, while Mozart's music has a transcendent quality to it that does not necessarily bespeak of the strange creature behind it, Kaufman's crazy antics and wacky routines ran a parallel course with their mad creator. His performances were as contradictory as himself, some being inspirational while others were mean-spirited and vicious. Kaufman gave new meaning to the definition of "human being". Not that comedians are ever normal, but Kaufman was probably the closest to a space alien on earth, with due apologies to Robin Williams. And probably the only actor space alien enough to attempt to play Kaufman was Jim Carey.
Kaufman burst on the Saturday Night Live scene in the 1970's with bits so improbable and spontaneous that he was a breath of fresh air for those tiring of Chevy Chase falling off ladders. His "Jimmy Carter" and "Might Mouse" bits have become classics in the annals of the show. And he had the best Elvis imitation in the industry. Maybe not quite like Rich Little, but an entirely different take.
He then got the opportunity to play Latka, a half-witted car repairman from an unknown eastern-block country, on the television show Taxi. Kaufman played Latka to the hilt, apparently creating Latka's "language" and improvising some of his scenes. When Taxi became a hit so did Kaufman and his character Latka. The movie reunited much of the cast of Taxi to re-shoot scenes with Carey as Kaufman playing Latka, and several of the actors believed that Kaufman had returned. Which is another point I want to make in this review: not for one moment did I think I was seeing Jim Carey. For two hours I thought I was seeing Andy Kaufman.
One of the most outlandish stunts Kaufman pulled (but certainly not the last) was the appearance of Tony Clifton. Kaufman required in his contract that Clifton appear on an episode or two of Taxi. Tony Clifton was essentially the ultimate Las Vegas loser from a bygone era, a cigar-smoking no-talent yowler (I hesitate to call him a singer) replete with smelly cigar, unkempt facial hair, and disgusting ruffled shirt. The kind of guy that maybe had his way with the ladies 49 years earlier but now needs more than a makeover. When Clifton arrives on the set of Taxi, heads do more than roll... But this was not the end of Kaufman's crazy stunts, which are chronicled throughout the movie, including wrestling women.
Simultaneously, Kaufman apparently was interested in transcendental meditation. And some of his live presentations had a gentler warmer rhetoric in which humor and laughter heal and enlighten audiences. However, his other stunts that provoked and angered other viewers received far more press. Unfortunately, it seems Kaufman could not decide which side of his contradictory personalities was really him and upon which he wanted to focus his energy. Late in the film, his agent, played by former Taxi cast member Danny DeVito asks Kaufman if he is really trying to entertain people or if he is just entertaining himself.
Ultimately, the film begs more questions than it answers, as it should be. Kaufman cannot be neatly categorized. Was he comedian? Yes, but not in the traditional Bob Hope sense. He was also a performance artist. Was he suffering from psychosis? Probably. But he was also into meditation. Kaufman will never be fully understood, maybe because he probably never truly understood himself either, and that's at the heart of Carey's portrayal.