365 Films A Year!

Man on the Moon tells the story of Andy Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey), from his early years (though there isn’t much of that) to his premature death at the age of 35. As with most biopics, it is a highly stylized re-telling, but it’s embracing of Kaufman’s disruptive form of comedy makes it stand out.

First, it plays with the notion of re-presenting history by casting the actual people in the majority of the smaller roles. So when Andy goes on David Letterman’s show, it’s actually David Letterman on screen, looking every bit of his fifteen some-odd years older. Rather than increasing the sense of realism, this approach heightens the unreality. It allows the film to flirt with the truth, but never lets us in on what is fact and what is fantasy.

As Kaufman, Jim Carrey does a good job of portraying the character, but he rarely actually conveys the vibe of the real person. When he is in a position of having to re-create moments that can actually be viewed (like his SNL appearances), he comes off okay, since Kaufman himself was always “in character”, but (and I suppose this is part of what makes Kaufman such an elusive subject) there’s no real person for Carrey to portray in the private scenes. He still comes off very well, but we still never get any idea exactly who Andy Kaufman was.

The rest of the cast is good as well and are served by the fact that their characters are not as high profile as Kaufman. Danny DeVito* plays Kaufman’s manager George Shapiro with compassion and a bemused lack of understanding of his client’s sensibilities. Paul Giamatti (in one of his first big roles) plays fellow conspiritor Bob Zmuda with relish, energizing every scene he’s in. And Courtney Love (at the time in the middle of one of her “respectable” phases) gives on of her finest performances as Andy’s steadiest girlfriend, Lynn Margulies.

As I hinted at before, the script from Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (who had previously written Ed Wood and the “Problem Child” films) tries to capture some of the chaos that Kaufman engendered. It begins by presenting Kaufman right away, talking about the nature of the film itself and remains self-referencial right up to the end. It may not tell us who Andy Kaufman was, but it gives off a sense of who he was to others.

If you like biopics or are/were a fan of Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon is well worth the time. But those who found him insufferable (and there were plenty) may still find some commonality in his struggle for his art and his struggle with death. If you are looking for all the answers about Andy, however, look elsewhere. It’s not going to reveal any of the truly big secrets, but it might give you enough of a glimpse to make you want to seek them out, anyway.

*The real Danny Devito and his character from Taxi are notably absent in order to free up Devito to play Shapiro.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under 1999, Based on Real Events, Biopic, Drama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.