The name Andy Kaufman probably means little to the average UK cinemagoer.
But, with a little prompting, some will remember that Kaufman played Latka
Gravas, the immigrant mechanic with a funny voice in the hit 70s sitcom
Taxi. Some may even recall that he died tragically young; but my guess is that's about all. That said, will anyone want to go and see a film about a largely forgotten, minor TV actor? They might when they realise that he was also a transcendental-sex-addicted-Elvis-impersonating-woman-wrestling-compulsive
-hoaxer and performance artist. In short, Milos Forman's biopic is here to
show us that there was a lot more to Kaufman than "dank you veddy much".
Man On The Moon follows the rise of Kaufman (Jim Carrey) from the New York comedy club circuit, aided by his manager George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) and comedy partner Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti), to his first break on
Saturday Night Live's inaugural broadcast and on to fame as a Taxi cast member. From then on, we witness Kaufman seemingly complicit in his own demise, alienating the majority of his audience by refusing to break from character in his unconventional live acts, by a string of stunts and hoaxes (inter-gender wrestling and fighting on TV chat shows to name a couple) - not to mention appearances by his obnoxious lounge singing alter ego Tony Clifton.
Apart from an early scene with Andy as a young child performing to his
baby sister, which tells us no more than that he had the desire to
entertain from a very young age, there is no real attempt to tell us what
formed so strange a man. Forman's film revels in Kaufman's weirdness
without ever scratching the surface. Nevertheless, it is fascinating all
the same and, despite Kaufman's insistence that he was not a comedian, the
laughs keep coming (for us at least, if not for his audience at the time).
In his attempt to recreate an authentic 70s feel, Forman has a number of
characters appear as themselves. In the case of the original Taxi cast members (including Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner and Christopher Lloyd) the effect is distracting and confusing, particularly when fellow Taxi star DeVito appears as Kaufman's long-suffering manager George Shapiro.
None of this really matters though, because all of the supporting
performances pale into insignificance next to Carrey's portrayal of
Kaufman. His irrepressible energy translates perfectly into Kaufman's
manic zeal. With the look, voices and mannerisms down pat, the
impersonation is uncanny.
Kaufman fans (there must be some out there) will no doubt be happy to see
their hero gracing the screen once more, even if they're having to make do
with the next best thing in the absence of the real McCoy, while Carrey
fans will revel in his finest performance to date. Fans of neither, however,
may be less convinced by what boils down to a two-hour impersonation of a
relatively unfamiliar performer.
Reviewed by Katy Thompson
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