Review of Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017) by Mattbrady99 — 19 Mar 2020

One of the most irritating documentaries I’ve watched in awhile.

I love Jim Carry, but man does he come across as a pretentious and narcissistic douche bag in this documentary and the behind the scene clips of ‘Man on the Moon’. So up his own ass while trying to act deep and insightful…mostly about himself.

On the set of ‘Man on the Moon’, the looks on Danny Devito and Paul Giamatti faces during Jim's chaotic method acting were my personal highlights. Devito looks bewildered, and Giamatti looks like he’s questioning if acting was a mistake.

For those saying that Jim is doing what Andy did by getting a rise out of people in style of a performance art, well here’s the thing, I don’t think he understands Andy that well. He doesn't even play Andy Kaufman like Andy. He plays Andy like Jim Carrey. At least Kaufman knew how to be subtle and would never have been that rude to people, because a lot of co-stars and friends came on record to say that whenever Andy wasn’t in character, he was the most caring and gentle person out there. Jim seems to be more interested in the wild side of Kaufman and left out everything else.

So yeah, Jim’s “incarnation” was poorly portrayed.

Probably the most creepiest and tasteless part of the documentary is when he spoke with Andy's actual kid - and made it out like, 'this was the first time they had a real conversation with their father'. What’s even weirder is Andy’s parents also treated him like Andy, especially with the cancer treatment bit. So gross.

There’s even a part when Jim slips up when talking about a particularly scene they shoot where he says, “He got me upside- …..he got Andy upside down.” Basically saying “No wait, I am ANDY!!”.

Overall rating: It’s not a terrible documentary by any means as there were some entertaining parts, mostly from the crews reaction to Jim’s crazy antics. However, I will never watch this again. Just thinking about it makes me more and more angry.