This Man on the Moon is One Small Step for Mankind

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 1999)

Who exactly was Andy Kaufman and was he a genius or just plain crazy (I opt for a talented mental case)? Well, watching "Man on the Moon", the new film about the life of entertainer Andy Kaufman, who died in 1984 at age 35, will not give you any answers to the above questions or much anything else. Somewhat entertaining, this paper-thin film is basically a kaleidoscope of Kufman's famous routines thrown together randomly, a very expensive, but less informative A&E Biography.
"Man on the Moon" starts off with a great opening credit, briefly touches Andy's childhood and basically shoots straight to his "Saturday Night Live" and "Taxi" gigs and his other famous routines including his very obnoxious and hilarious alter ego Tony Clifton and his wrestling promotion stunts, which practically killed his career. Director Milos Forman and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski really make no attempt to explain what made Andy Kaufman tick, it's just one routine after another, with little personal information in between. Just recently A&E's Biography presented an hour on Andy Kaufman and was much more informative and almost as entertaining showing basically the same skits that were recreated in the film, but instead of seeing Jim Carrey, you had the honor of seeing the original at work.
Speaking of Jim Carrey, he has gotten much press even before the movie was released about how he appeared on the set in character and never stopped until the end of filming. He is also being mentioned for an Oscar nomination and has even been promoting himself on the talk show circuit. My opinion, Carrey does a brilliant impression, but that is basically it. He has all the mannerisms down pat, sounds like Kaufman, even looks like Kaufman, but it is more of an impression than a performance. I can't really fault Carrey for this, but the screenplay really doesn't give him much to work with except to mimic Andy's routines. That is a shame, because for the first time, I was able to tolerate Carrey and he was very grounded considering he was playing such a loose cannon. Danny DeVito, as always, is very good as George Shapiro, the talent manager who discovers Kaufman at a comedy club and eventually managed his career. Paul Giamatti also does fine work as Bob Zmuda, Andy's friend and writing partner.
"Man on the Moon" also has some major flaws that should have never happened. Many of the characters such as David Letterman, SNL producer Lorne Michaels and some of the actors for the TV show "Taxi" play themselves. This would have been fine if the film was set in the mid 90's, but they are really pushing the envelope considering that these events took place late 70's, early 80's. Some of the "Taxi" crew look like waxworks, while David Letterman looks like he just walked of his show the other day and said "Okay, let's shoot this baby, I have to get back to my set". Come on, this is Hollywood, use some dye, wigs, make-up to make these folks look somewhat younger. There is also a real cheap shot toward the end of the film. Andy Kaufman is sick with a rare form of lung cancer and tells George Shapiro that he would like to perform one last huge production, then the film cuts to the extravagant concert that Andy did at Carnegie Hall. One problem, this concert was done early in Andy's career, years before he had cancer. Talk about playing on the audience's sympathy. And did we really need over a half hour devoted to Andy's pro-wrestling stunts, they were pretty boring back then, here they almost stop the film dead in it's tracks.
It was great to relive the highlights of Andy Kaufman's career and there is no denying his talents, but "Man on the Moon" left me feeling empty and I'm sure wherever Andy is, he is probably saying "Tank you very much, but no tanks". Not Recommend. × × 1/2 out of 5.