I love Andy Kaufman. I have always admired his skills as a performer ever since I first saw reruns of him doing his Mickey Mouse bit for Saturday Night Live on Nick at Nite. I’ve watched all the specials about his life on Comedy Central and A&E, and I’ve read Bob Zmuda’s book on their partnership (as well as the more impersonal Lost in the Funhouse).
So needless to say, I was excited when I heard that Milos Forman would direct a biopic on Kaufman called Man on the Moon. I followed news reports on the progress of filming and ate up stories about Jim Carrey slipping into Kaufman-esque eccentricities by demanding a separate trailer for Tony Clifton. But after I saw the movie, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why? Why was this movie even made? What was the point of it all?
The film accurately tells the story of Kaufman’s life, showing his meteoric rise to stardom through his appearances on Saturday Night Live and the sitcom Taxi, his subsequent fall from grace as he tried to break free from the Foreign Man role he created, and his later death from cancer. The film also recreates unerringly a lot of Kaufman’s different acts, brilliantly carrying through his Elvis impression and the infamous Great Gatsby gig.
But the soul seems to have been drained of the work here, since no real insight into Kaufman’s character is ever shown. Sure, he was a comedic genius, chameleonic in the way he dove into a character, like with his Tony Clifton persona. Sure, he was misunderstood by the general public and pigeonholed into a role that he secretly hated. Sure, he was a bit weird, acting at times in ways that simply confused his audiences, like when he for a time became a wrestler. But so what? We knew that already; this material seems more suited for a Behind the Music than a whole film.
At least when Forman directed The People vs. Larry Flint, there was a reason. We could find the heart behind the pornography; he fought for a cause so it was easy for us to understand the character. But with Man on the Moon, Forman has simply strung together a series of odd events and anecdotes from Kaufman’s life. In the end it seems pointless, but maybe that was the point in itself.
I also felt that the film took too many liberties with the story. Bob Zmuda played such a large part in Andy’s real life, but in the film his character (played by this guy) is relegated to a very minor role. Larger roles are given to Kaufman’s agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) and his girlfriend Lynn Margolis (Courtney Love) than I felt were merited. Kaufman in real life was a bit of a womanizer and a frequent guest at Nevada brothels. He only finally settled with Lynn towards the very end of his life. And Shapiro’s role was simply that of an amazed observer most of the time, not an actual part of his creative team. Perhaps it was Danny DeVito’s behind-the-scenes role as producer was the impetus behind the decision to tell the story through Shapiro’s eyes, but I feel that the movie would have been better served (and we as an audience would have had more of an understanding then of Kaufman as a person) if the focus had been more on Zmuda.
Jim Carrey does do a terrific job of acting in this film. He is not Jim Carrey acting like Andy Kaufman in this film; he is Andy. Carrey definitely deserved to win the Golden Globe for such a fantastic performance in which he truly morphs into a role. But I also can totally understand the decision to deny him an Oscar nomination. Kaufman was never too popular in the first place, because a lot of folks didn’t get it. Some viewers thus might have felt alienated at Carrey’s spot-on performance; essentially, Carrey was too good at playing Kaufman to get an Oscar.
Man on the Moon, then, is only recommended for the true Kaufman fan, and even they might not like it too much. While well-acted, the film has no real grasp on the mind of this prodigy to offer its audience, and the facts are better told by biographers than director Milos Forman. Luckily, the DVD of the film has several bonus features, including videos from REM (who provided an able soundtrack for the film) and deleted scenes. Without these extras, the film might not have been worthy of even a rental.
