Man on the Moon (1999)

reviewed by
Michael Redman

Man On The Moon a lunatic

Man On The Moon
A Film Review By Michael Redman
Copyright 1999 By Michael Redman

**1/2 (out of ****)

The greatest and most important piece of art that any artist can produce is his or her life. There is no single painting, song, book or poem that can compare to the journey one makes and the body of work that is evidence of it.

The truths discovered along the path, the path as a whole: these are the destiny of an artist. The products they leave behind are merely artifacts through which we might be able to glimpse what they have found.

Andy Kaufman's lifework was indeed his life. Sometimes his performances were wondrous inventions from outside anything the audience would expect. Occasionally they were hilarious. And of course, as with anyone doing something new, they sometimes didn't work at all.

Let me get my prejudices out up front. I belong to the school that thinks Kaufman was a genius. Although billed as a comedian, he actually was a performance artist and delighted in screwing with our minds. More power to him.

I also recognize that much of the public just didn't `get it'. When a supposedly funny man walked on stage, they wanted jokes. Kaufman didn't tell jokes. As he admitted, he didn't even know what was funny.

The film is more of a series of episodes from his life than it is a story. We get to see re-enactments of his "Taxi" years (complete with the original cast), the "Saturday Night Live" shows, appearances with David Letterman and the infamous wrestling bits.

Many of these pieces are uncanny. If you remember the Letterman shows, the film seems as you are there, albeit Dave looks a little older. The behind the scenes look at "Taxi" are worth the price of admission. Christopher Lloyd's expressions are priceless.

Kaufman (played with an amazing accuracy by Jim Carrey) is best known for his Latka character on "Taxi", which although a high point of the series is the least of his creations. At the time, it didn't make much sense that the same person performing on-the-edge pieces would be involved in a sit-com. The film makes it clear. It was a means to an end. Latka made him popular enough that he could do the work he wanted.

Although there are some insights mixed in with the looks at his career, the film falls as flat as some of Kaufman's less successful performances. We see what Andy did, but rarely get any idea of why he did it.

We never meet the real Andy Kaufman. We're shown the comedian, the wrestler and the artist but we don't get many clues as to what made him tick. In some ways this is consistent with his life. He kept us guessing then and the movie keeps us guessing now.

His girlfriend Lynn (Courtney Love) tells him there is `no real you'. It's a great line and certainly describes his public persona, but without knowing more about who he was, the film doesn't hold together.

The two scenes where we do see something of the real are the best in the film. When he announces to his friends and family he has lung cancer, they think it's another stunt. Later he visits a psychic surgeon in the Caribbean and is amazed to find a kindred soul.

Carrey is remarkable in his portrayal. He has all of Kaufman's nuances. He even looks like him. At times you will forget that it's Carrey on the screen. His career has had an odd run from the hilarious but little-known Duck Factory television series to far too many insipid films to this one. With his last couple of movies, we are beginning to see his true talents. Perhaps Jim Carrey is now popular enough that he can do what he wants.