We've all seen Jim Carrey perform. We've seen his standup routine, we've
bore witness to his stay on the television series In Living Color, and we've
seen his movies.
They started out stupid. Very stupid. Let's skip Once Bitten and Earth Girls
Are Easy and get into the movies that made his carreer. First came along Ace
Ventura: Pet Detective. Stupid. Funny (alright, I laughed, I admit it), but
completely devoid of intelligence. Follow that with The Mask, a bit more intelligent
but still built on Carrey's rubbery face and insanely electric energy. Move in
With Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls, and The Cable Guy and you
have a man who has done basically the same character over and over again.
Though The Cable Guy was a departure from Carrey's usual persona. He played an
obsessive psychopath, and the movie itself alienated many people from Carrey. It
wasn't the character they were used to, and they didn't like it (plus the movie
itself got smashed; I have yet to see it, but I want to just to see how good or bad
it actually is).
Then came along Liar Liar, in which Carrey displayed the possibility of playing
a serious role. This was more than followed up with the fabulous The Truman Show.
This movie blew me away. To begin with, it was intelligent. Secondly it actually
proved to us that Jim Carrey can act.
And now we come to Man On The Moon, the movie based on the life of Andy Kaufman.
No, wait, let me rephrase that. It's more like it's based on the life of Andy Kaufman
as his carreer began and ended. It stars Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, and Danny DeVito
as Kaufman's manager. Courtney Love supports in the latter half of the movie as
Kaufman's love.
Before I saw this movie I had no idea who Andy Kaufman was. I knew he was a comedian, I
knew he had starred on Taxi, but that was about it. Then I saw this movie, and I found
myself admiring Kaufman... and Carrey.
Why do I now admire Kaufman? Because he didn't do things that he thought other people
would enjoy. He did things to entertain himself. To do this he pulled practical jokes,
he insulted people, he read the entirety of The Great Gatsby when a college audience heckled
him to play his character from Taxi.... Things like that (and that audience deserved it!).
We're shown Kaufman from the beginning of his career, performing for his young sister. This
insight into Kaufman's childhood lasts for about five minutes, if that long. It soon flashes
forward to an Improv comedy club, where Kaufman is performing a sing-along with the audience,
as people walk out on him. He doesn't care, he's enjoying himself. Then, the next night,
after having been given a warning to either keep the audience in the club or to just leave,
we are made privy to Kaufman's Elvis impersonation (which was amazing).
He rises to fame and he falls from grace. Kaufman had an obsession with wrestling, and he
began to play up this obsession, acting as the bad-guy in his own self-created "Inter-Gender
Wrestling Federation" which consisted of him and any woman who wanted to challenge him. From
here he began to insult women, and his antics began to alienate his fans, and even his family.
Everything was a joke to Kaufman, or so he liked us all to believe. The movie is quite feel-
good, however, as it is uplifting to see how he makes his one final comeback in a lively performance
at Carnegie Hall. The movie gives an interesting insight to Andy Kaufman, shedding light on his
many pranks and showing us why he did some of the things he did.
And now we come to Jim Carrey, who is probably the only man in the world who could pull off
such a remarkable performance. He makes us truly believe that he is Andy Kaufman. All his
mannerisms, all of his talent, has been pooled into one finely honed performance. In no other
place could Carrey's ability for impression, rubber-face, and physical comedic skill be placed
along-side his ability to give an amazing dramatic performance. The man can act. He deserves
an Oscar nomination for this one, at the least. He was amazing. DeVito was kick-ass, as well,
and Courtney Love didn't do too bad a job, and all of the other actors in this piece were also
fabulous, but Carrey shone like the star that Kaufman wanted to become.
It's a good movie, and it's insightful. Go and see it, if for nothing else then for Jim Carrey's
remarkable performance.
"I'm pushing through, I'm bending spoons, I'm keeping flowers in full bloom, I looking for answers from the great beyond!"