MOVIE REVIEW

Man on the Moon  (2000)

Starring: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito

Director: Milos Forman
Rating: R

Studio: Universal

Review Posted: Unknown

Reaction: Positive

By Nathan Loding

While a lot of critics are smashing "Man On The Moon" for not explaining why Andy Kaufman took pleasure in what he did, I'm sitting back in my seat confused about him, and glad about it. What a lot of critics forget is that even Andy's best friends can't explain him, so how can a pair of screenwriter's even begin to. The only way we'll understand Andy is if he explains himself to the world, and because he's probably (emphasis on "probably"), we'll never know. And that's why I liked "Man On The Moon" so much. It added more mystery to the enigma that is Andy Kaufman (and explained some of his jokes). The beginning of the movie is, I think, the funniest. It would have done Andy proud. I can't really tell what happens, because it's unexpected.

From there, it jumps to a brief look into Andy's childhood. The young Kaufman is performing to his bedroom wall when his father walks in and explains to him how unhealthy it is that he performs to a wall, and how he needs and audience to practice on. So Andy drags his little sister into the room, and starts singing to her the "Animal Song..." when the entire movie fast forwards 20 or so years into the future, to a smokey bar where an adult Andy performs the same song to a very bored and upset drunk audience. Shortly thereafter, the owner of the bar fires Andy, who starts to cry.

Once he's out of the bar, however, his tears disappear, and a big grin spreads across his face. That was Andy Kaufman, taking pleasure in all the wrong reasons (but they were the right ones for him). He liked it when the crowd "Boo"'d instead of applauded. He liked to pick on the audience, and this really came through in his lounge lizard character Tony Clifton, who says things like "Hey lady, you sat in some cottage cheese... Oh, I'm sorry, that's just your ass!" He loved messing with people's minds. He always needed to do something you didn't expect, or make you believe what was in reality wrong. He loved mind-fucking people. He thought that was entertainment, many others didn't. A lot of people believe he was insane. As George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) says: "You're insane... but you may also be brilliant."

"Man On The Moon" fair accurately re-creates Andy's more famous shenanigans, from lip-syncing the chorus of "Mighty Mouse" on "Saturday Night Live" to him defending his "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World" title to him taking out the entire audience of Carnegie Hall for milk and cookies. Some of the events are smooshed together, like his fiasco with Jerry "The King" Lawler (played by himself). In what took place in two or three wrestling matches in the movie, actually took place over a long period of time, and there was more to it in the end with a wrestler named Jimmy Hart. And, "Man On The Moon" also gives a little bit of biographical information. Bits and pieces of background information that make him even more mysterious and some of his jokes are explained and even more intriguing.

The end of the movie leaves wide-open the possibility that Andy Kaufman is still alive and kicking today, laughing at his final joke. Some will say he's dead because he needed to be in the spotlight, other will say he's alive because his career fell through and he quit by faking his death. Some who believe he's still alive will say that this is his comeback, that he'll show up and say "The joke's on you..." We'll see...

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