Disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2000)

Man on the Moon is the eagerly awaited biography of Andy Kaufman directed by Milos Forman, an Academy Award winner whose last biographical feature was the outstanding The People vs. Larry Flynt. I want into this movie with very high expectations because: (1) I have a lot of respect for Forman as a director and (2) the early reviews were glowing, suggesting Oscar gold for both Forman and Carrey. Sad to say, I was disappointed. I didn't learn anything new about Kaufman from Man on the Moon, and in fact the movie seemed like little more than a series of sketches strung together in an attempt to illustrate Kaufman's life. The movie gets off to a promising start, showing us how Kaufman had the urge to entertain even as a child (he's just sure there are cameras in his bedroom walls broadcasting to some huge unseen audience). It then skips years into the future, and we find Kaufman (now played by Jim Carrey) is making a meager living doing stand up in nightclubs (of course, his idea of stand up involves reciting nursery rhymes to an increasingly hostile audience). His boss lets him go, explaining that Kaufman needs to learn to perform in a more conventional fashion in order to engage the audience (he suggests impressions or dirty jokes). Kaufman returns to wow the audience with a hilarious Elvis impression, and soon finds himself cornered by agent George Shapiro (Danny De Vito), who soon convinces him to star on the prime time sitcom Taxi against his better judgment ("Sitcoms are the lowest form of entertainment", he says). Taxi thrusts Kaufman into the public eye, a place in which he seems increasingly uncomfortable. He finally comes up with a funny scheme to get off of the program, involving his riotous alter ego sleazy lounge singer Tony Clifton (for whom Kaufman has secured a recurring role on the sitcom). It's about here that the movie seems to lose its' way. Kaufman meets Lynne (Courtney Love), and I suppose that we are to assume that the two develop a close relationship, even though the film doesn't give us very many interesting dialogue scenes between them (compare this with the intriguing relationship developed between Larry and Althea in Forman's People vs. Larry Flynt). Kaufman and Lynne become involved in the pro wresting circuit, pioneering intergender wrestling and causing quite a stir with such wrestling pros as Jerry Lawler. Kaufman becomes known as the ultimate prankster -- willing to do anything for a laugh, and liking nothing better than when he can fool his audience. In fact, his family and friends don't even believe him when he develops cancer -- they think it's just another elaborate prank, making comments such as "This is a showbiz hospital, Andy knows all these doctors, etc". But, it's not. One problem I had with Man on the Moon concerns personal preference. I just didn't find a lot of Kaufman's humor in this movie funny. Kaufman seems less a conventional comedian than he does a performance artist of sorts, and that's fine, but it makes for a long haul when you are watching a biography of a comedian you don't find particularly amusing. I laughed some during the movie (particularly at the scenes with Tony Clifton), but having seen the movie I can honestly say that I don't see why Kaufman is revered so. He seems less concerned with entertaining an audience than he does with entertaining himself, and indeed the second half of the movie deals in depth with his rejection by a mass audience, a development I understood completely (though the film treats it as baffling). If you are a big fan of Kaufman, you may find this movie hilarious and may want to add a star to my rating.... but I just didn't think a lot of it was funny. I can't lie. However, I think the main weakness with Man on the Moon is its failure to really probe the psyche of its protagonist. Going into the movie, I knew Andy Kaufman was on Taxi, I knew he was considered a comic genius, and I knew he was destined to tragically die quite young. The movie wasn't very illuminating in that it didn't really allow us to get to know Kaufman, and so when I left the theater I didn't know anything more about him than I did going in. Sure, Carrey is brilliant in the scenes in which he recreates Kaufman's skits, but when it comes time for him to really portray him as a character (in the second half of the movie), he seems lost. There just isn't much of a real character here for Carrey to sink his teeth into as an actor. Even though I personally find much of Kaufman's humor strange and unfunny, if the film had given me a really good idea of who Andy Kaufman was and what he did to deserve his status as a national icon, that would have been enough for a recommendation. It doesn't, and for that reason, the movie left me unfulfilled. It's quite good technically, with strong performances all around and the usual pro job from Forman, but the script seems pitched at the level of a tv-movie. A few less skit re-creations and less time spent on the wrestling coupled with more character development would've resulted in a higher grade from me. An honorable misfire. 6/10