Man on the Moon (1999)

Review by Bret Walker

Andy Kaufman was one of the genius comics of our time. The only problem is, he's the only one who knew it at the time. Milos Forman captures the essence of this genius in directing Jim Carrey, probably the only actor/comic who could even come close to portraying the man properly, as the man who cried wolf one too many times.

Man on the Moon tells the take of Andy Kaufman's life. Carrey does a fantastic job of portraying the crass and demanding prankster who made the world his own private joke. The film shows Kaufman and his secret sidekick, Bob Zmuda, crying wolf and pulling practical jokes everywhere they went. Seemingly uncaring whether anyone gets his humor or not, Kaufman stirred anger in the wrestling world (by secretly recruiting the help of professional wrestler Jerry Lawler), made an entire college audience walk out on him by reading the Great Gatsby in its entirety, even going so far as to portray a nasty lounge singer named Tony Clifton. And in the end, when he was dying of a rare form of lung cancer, his pranks came back to haunt him when no one, even his family, believed he was really dying.

Milos Forman certainly knows how to choose the darkest characters for his films. There is genius in how he uses people from the actual events in the film: the entire cast of Taxi appears, as well as Bob Zmuda himself. Remember also that Larry Flynt portrayed a judge in Forman's previous bio, The People vs. Larry Flynt.

Carrey is brilliant as Andy Kaufman, and the rest of the cast is quite good as well. But it is really Carrey's performance and Forman's literal portrayal of Kaufman's twisted and often misdirected humor that pushes this film into the upper echelon of films. It's quite hard to believe that Carrey's performance was completely overlooked at the Oscars, and although Keven Spacey certainly deserved the golden statue, Carrey certainly should have at least been recognized. It seems as though the Academy waits until a comedian has made at least ten serious films before they even look at him or her. Witness the Oscar drought of very worthy Robin Williams. Carrey was flat-out snubbed this past year, which in my mind makes the Oscars of this past year a laughable event.

Man on the Moon is a terrific tale of a brilliant and misunderstood comic, and fans of Andy Kaufman will certainly enjoy this film, and people who were offended by him may understand his twisted mind a little more. Either way, this is a terrific film well worth a look.

Rating:

Trivia:

Milos Forman is no stranger to directing films about controversial people from history. He's also directed The People vs. Larry Flint (1996) and Amadeus (1984). He's also the director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and the movie version of Hair (1979).

Courney Love's debut performance in a film was well before her marriage to Kurt Cobain. Her debut came as Nancy Spungen's friend Gretchen in the punk anthem Sid and Nancy: Love Kills (1986).

Links:

The Official Man on the Moon Website

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