Review of Man on the Moon (1999) by Justin F — 22 Aug 2008

Despite Jim Carrey's strong performance, Man on the Moon never really captures the essence of Andy Kaufman nor, worst of all, offers much in the way of laughs. Strange, given that writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were able to write a much funnier and better biopic about a non-comedian in The People Vs. Larry Flynt, which was also directed by Milos Forman.

Part of the problem seems to be a lack of context: in the film's narrative, Kaufman emerges out of nowhere on the stand-up scene and starts to seriously mess with punters' heads, but as the film never provides any sense of the kind of comedy that was prevalent hitherto, there is thus never any real appreciation of the kind of innovator that Kaufman actually was, just a superficial "Kaufman was ahead of his time and, oh, look at the bemused audience members' faces" treatment. Perhaps the writers just assumed that most viewers would understand the context in which Kaufman came to prominence, in the same way that they seem to have assumed that most viewers would have some familiarity with the hit 1970s show Taxi, Kaufman's work on which is distilled with a montage of scenes which are contextless and, therefore, not funny.

The film opens with a stab at something approaching Kaufman-esque material, but the result is lame and underwhelming. Thereafter ensues a shallow biopic about a very unconventional man which, apart from a few golden Carrey moments (e.g. his look into the camera as his character decides to defy his audience), is incongruously conventional.