Jim Carrey impersonates Andy Kaufman and the results aren't pretty

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2003)

Andy Kaufman was a one-of-a-kind genius, a man whose comic style transcended his persona. The undeniable brilliance of Kaufman is that you never knew if he was kidding or serious; he danced on such a thin line that you always expected him to fall off on one side or the other. There were so many layers to his personality that you never quite knew who or what you were watching: was he acting or was he serious? Kaufman was so far ahead of his time that many people simply didn't understand him, that's why he was voted off of Saturday Night Live in a stunt that he probably engineered himself.
Kaufman liked to push things to the limit. One of his bits was reading a book onstage, such as The Great Gatsby, in a dry, boring voice, then tease the audience by giving them a choice between playing a record or to continue reading. After several minutes of continuously reading, interspersed by booing from the audience, Kaufman finally played the record, which was a recording of Kaufman reading The Great Gatsby.
Carrey's performance in this film is good, but because Kaufman was such an original, then Carrey is largely relegated to aping Kaufman's television performances. As everyone knows, impersonating a celebrity is funny for about five minutes, but when the impersonation is stretched into an entire film it becomes tired and pointless.
The secret to Kaufman was that he never publicly revealed who he really was. Like movies about space aliens or ghosts, once you personalize the mystery by identifying with them, you destroy their power to fascinate. Because of his layered personality, no one could ever personalize Andy Kaufman, and that's why this film fails in his portrayal. I don't recommend this film.