
Man on the Moon
3.9
(846)
Comedy
Drama
1999
118 min
R
The story of the life and career of eccentric avant-garde comedian, Andy Kaufman.
Starring:
Comedy
Drama
Documentary
AD
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Community ReviewsSee all
"+ A risk-taking performance by Jim Carrey who may or may not get to the essence of Andy Kaufman, but creates a great character in terms of the cinematic medium. One of the strong, if not great, efforts by director Milos Forman, who always seems to center his movies on oddballs who suffer from one form of madness or another. Andy Kaufman could have easily been a character who by sheer luck never made into the psych ward in Cuckoo's Nest. The sort of rascally madness in this movie is akin to that movie with Kaufman as the kooky character and rebel character all in one. I also like how it blends real life actors who play themselves and actors who portray real life people in the time of Andy Kaufman's story. It blurs the line between fictional dramatization and reality in such a way that pays homage to the main character of the movie. Somewhere between meta, reenactment, and pure fiction.
- At times the unfolding of the movie can feel somewhat episodic without meditating on the enigma of Andy Kaufman. His fun house antics, though engaging over the course of years, sometimes wears out its welcome in the course of a two hour movie. To be fair it must have been challenging to portray such an elusive subject in any grounded way. Still I think a documentary is best for this type of story.
Overall: Strong movie that blurs the lines of truth and fiction to depict the myth of one of the more interesting personalities I know of. Great lead performance by Jim Carrey and strong direction by Milos Forman."