Carrey's Remarkable Performance Makes this film work...

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2009)

The late Andy Kaufman was a tortured soul who wanted fame on his own terms and didn't care if others were in on the joke or not. This seems to be the permeating theme of MAN ON THE MOON, director Milos Foreman's rambling 1999 biopic about the comedian, who would achieve his greatest fame as mechanic Latka Gravas on the ABC series TAXI during the 1970's. This film explores Kaufman's humble beginnings in dingy comedy clubs to his unnerving appearance on the premiere episode of Saturday NIGHT LIVE, his tenure on TAXI and his invasion of the WWF, which ballooned into a full blown feud with WWF wrestler Jerry Lawler. The film shows Andy's consistent discontent with his success and how no matter what he achieved, it wasn't enough. This purely evidenced in Kaufman's obnoxious alter ego, Tony Clifton, who Kaufman tirelessly worked at creating a separate career for, despite the fact that no one was interested. The film aggravates as we watch Kaufman constantly put up roadblocks to his own success, but also fascinates due to the mesmerizing performance by Jim Carrey in the title role. Carrey channels Kaufman flawlessly, in a performance that's positively spooky in its accuracy and should have earned Carrey an Oscar nomination. Kaufman, I mean Carrey, gets solid support from Danny DeVito, who plays George Shapiro, Kaufman's agent and Paul Giamatti, who plays Bob Zmuda, Kaufman's co-writer and co-parter in conspiracy and the only one in all of Kaufman's jokes. Courtney Love's performance as the leading lady is a matter of taste, but it really doesn't matter because this is Jim Carrey's show all the way and he makes the film worth watching. The film also features appearances by Jerry Lawler, Peter Bonerz as TAXI producer Ed Weinberger and TAXI cast members Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd, and Carol Kane. A long but involving look at one of show business' most tragic figures and Im not completely sure that it's over.