Lacks insight but is still very entertaining thanks to a great Carrey

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2004)

Andy Kaufman is a song and dance man who struggles to really be successful as a stand up in nightclubs as the audience are never really sure what the joke actually is. When he is spotted by agent George Shapio, it allows him to get one of his characters onto a new sitcom. With the success of the show he is given a stage to try different things - an opportunity that the studio regrets giving him when he varies wildly from a lounge lizard alter ego to a major show where he wrestles female audience members to the ground.
As with many within the UK audience for this film, I only know Kaufman from his character in Taxi. One thing I do know is that he was clearly a mystery with no-one, maybe not even himself, really knowing who he was or when he was being serious. And that is what the film remembers - an enigma. This is not the place to come for understanding, explanation or background; in fact the film skips from a brief flashback of Andy's childhood to 20 years later as a stand-up! In that regard, the film is a success because it nicely captures a man who it must have been hard to laugh at simply because he appeared to be more about having a laugh on his audience rather than at his audience. On the strength of this film I quite like his style but am surprised he became so famous when it must have been quite hard to actually laugh at his work.
The film may not do enough for those who know a lot about Kaufman's career simply because it doesn't cast light on anything - it only records some key events. As I said, the film seems to be holding it's hands up and saying `look - we know about as much as you do' - it isn't even sure if Kaufman died for real or not. I found it very funny though and it was an entertaining way of informing me about his career.
Despite the lack of an Oscar nomination, it is Carrey who makes this film work so well - his performance is great, capturing Kaufman's routines as well as providing us with some tender moments. DeVito is good in support even though it confused me as to who he was playing at first (Shapio or himself). Love is not as bad as I feared she might be, although she has no character and she is still one of the weakest aspects of the film. Giamatti is as reliable as ever and is sterling in support. Appearances from others as themselves are great and add class to the film - particularly Lawler, the cast of Taxi and several others.
Overall I enjoyed this film but it engaged me because I knew so little about him. For those who are familiar with him this film may not bring enough for them to justify seeing but even then it is lively, funny and centred on a great performance from Carrey.