After working together on The People vs Larry Flynt, director Milos Forman reteamed with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski for another biopic of an American original: performance artist Andy Kaufman whose audience didn’t always know they were performing for him.
Buy Man on the Moon Blu-rayAs the film opens, Andy (Jim Carrey), using his Foreign Man character voice, speaks directly to the audience. He doesn’t think much of the movie, says “it’s terrible” because parts of his life have been cut out or mixed up for dramatic purposes. He “cut out all the baloney” and now all that’s left are the closing credits. But that was just a gag to get rid of “the folks who wouldn’t understand” him because he thinks the film “is really great.” This scene epitomizes Andy’s work as the audience could never trust him. Forman’s film tries to mirror that concept.
Early on, Andy gets let go from a comedy club because performing as a children’s TV host is not something adults out for drinks and laughs want. He doesn’t understand show business is a business, which will dog him through his career. Manager George Shapiro (Danny De Vito) catches Andy doing his Foreign Man act of bad jokes and imitations, which segues into a great Elvis imitation that sends the previously bewildered crowd wild.
George gets him a job on Taxi, thinking he’ll be a breakout character like the Fonz. The producers love his Foreign Man character but Andy hates sitcoms. He makes demands, such as number of episodes he’ll appear in, his own network special, and four guest appearances for Tony Clifton, a terrible lounge singer who abuses his audience, who is actually Andy in disguise.
Andy as Latka becomes a huge hit. He plays a college and people want Latka, which is not what he planned. He grows resentful and to get back at the crowd, he decides to read The Great Gatsby. He tries to get out of his Taxi deal by having Tony be an absolute menace on the set. News of Tony’s firing leaks out, thanks to Andy and his writer/friend Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti), and Tony gets booked in Tahoe. The casino audience assumes Andy is Tony until Andy comes out on stage. The film audience learns that Tony was played by Bob, but Forman cheats, shooting and dubbing Carrey as Tony in the scene when it’s supposed to be Giamatti. This manipulation by Forman doesn’t have the same effect as Kaufman manipulating his audience, so the desired result isn’t clear.
Andy and Bob needing a new way to shock audiences get the idea Andy should become a wrestling villain. He starts wrestling women, declaring himself the Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World and outrages audiences saying such ridiculous things, it’s hard to believe people took him seriously, but they did. Andy then fought a man, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and the audience went wild after he was defeated and taken away in a neck brace, but it was all part of the act.
Andy’s appearances grew more chaotic. He had a fight with cast members and the director during a live broadcast of Fridays. He and Jerry fought on Late Night with David Letterman. The public began to turn on him, eventually voting against him appearing on Saturday Night Live again, which is where many saw him for the first time on national TV.
And after so many fake-outs in his act and in real life, it is no surprise that people doubted when he revealed he had cancer. Even family members didn’t believe him. People expected him to show up at his own funeral, or a year later when Tony Clifton played the Comedy Store. It’s clearly Carrey as Tony and Bob is shown in audience, but again a manipulation by Forman doesn’t make sense. Does he want us to believe Andy is still out there?
The video has been given a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer displayed at 2.35:1 from a brand new 2K master approved and color graded by cinematographer Anastas Michos. The colors appear in strong, natural hues. Blacks are inky in both the black and white and color sequences. The image looks clean and has amount of pleasing film grain. Depth and texture detail are apparent.
The audio is available in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Lossless Stereo. Dialogue is clear throughout. The surround speakers have limited ambient effects that stay within their channels. The rears get louder when an audience watches Andy.
The Special Features are:
- NEW Audio Commentary by Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, Moderated by Film Historian Howard S. Berger – An informative track done through Zoom.
- This Might Be a Story…: Screenwriters Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski in Conversation with Milos Forman (22 min) – Recorded August 13, 1999, the trio discuss the film during post production.
- Spotlight on Location: The Making of Man on the Moon (19 min) – Forman, Carrey, and others talk about working on the film.
- Deleted Scenes (13 min)
- R.E.M. Music Video: “Man on the Moon” (5 min)
- R.E.M. Music Video: “The Great Beyond” (4 min)
- Theatrical Trailer
I am a longtime fan of Andy’s work and Man on the Moon tells the story of Andy Kaufman well. He seems both brilliant and insane, and Carrey strikes a great balance as he inhabits the role of a man who plays other characters on stage and in life. The use of real people as themselves, from David Letterman to the cast of Taxi, adds authenticity to the story. While the film is enjoyable and I understand trying to infuse it with Kaufman’s approach to his art, fooling an audience through film is so different and so easy that I am not sure what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish. Thankfully, there are enough laughs it doesn’t matter.
For those curious about Carrey’s approach in playing the role, seek out the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton, currently available on Netflix.
