Carrey's best performance

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2007)

All "serious" comics tend to turn away from pure humour towards an investigation of what it means to be funny: perhaps, that's why they're considered serious comics, because they're just not funny themselves any more. But Andy Kaufman, throughout his career, pushed the definition of comedy to its limit. But we he any good, and does the fact of his early death justify a biopic? Or, to put it another way, can someone who did not grow up with, or does not appreciate, Kaufman's own peculiar form of humour, enjoy Milos Forman's film, 'Man in the Moon'? Fortunately, the answer is yes, because of Kaufman's own bizarre character, brought brilliantly to life by Jim Carrey (not an actor I usually particularly enjoy). It is said that Kaufman never came out of character, but in the film's most telling line, a girlfriend comments "there is no real you", and the film certainly does not subscribe to the view that there was a normal human being behind the masks. Kaufman, as portrayed in this film, remains an enigma, maybe he even was an enigma to himself, but this adds a quality to the story of his journey through life that sets it apart from ordinary tales. When you finish watching this film, you don't necessarily like the act (if "act" is the right word); but in spite of yourself, you do like the man.