A Celebration, Not An Explanation, of Andy's Life

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 1999)

The major complaint from critics so far on Man On The Moon is that it doesn't really attempt to explain Andy Kauffman. But looking at director Milos Forman's previous masterpieces One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), it is apparent that the filmmaker isn't so much concerned by the psychological make-up of his characters as he is in celebrating their individual freedom. Andy is treated in the same vein as R.P MacMurphy and Mozart, a unique and charismatic individual who tries to break through the conventions and rules set before him. Forman uses him as a symbol of individuality constantly fighting the accepted rules of stand-up comedy (just as Mac fought the rules of Nurse Ratched and Mozart's own flakiness set off Salieri).
Jim Carrey, of course, gives us a dead-on impression of Kauffman. But Carrey's Kauffman is distant from the audience through most of the film (if Andy could be explained in full, no one would take the time to make a movie about him). We mostly view Andy through the eyes of George Shapiro (Danny DeVito), Andy's long-time manager. He is as perplexed as the audience by Andy's behavior, but he also realizes the "genius" at work (the sort of cycle Forman expects the audience to experience).
Man On The Moon, like most of Forman's films, is both highly entertaining (especially Jerry Lawler's performance as himself and the bits involving Tony Clifton) and moving (the final sequence). It doesn't reach the plateau set by Cuckoo's Nest, but it is still one of the best five films of 1999.