Most critics loved the movie, and it seemed to have all of the ingredients for a true Oscar contender for Best Picture, but I was slightly disappointed, and I think that it's gonna be largely ignored come Oscar season. Maybe Jim Carrey will get a Best Actor nomination (he deserves it), but I think that "Man on the Moon" leaves too many unanswered questions. I've read that the movie is a "Kaufmanesque" biography on Andy Kaufman, but assuming that doing so was the intention of those involved, that leaves out those who don't really know who Andy Kaufman was, so people like me aren't in on the joke.
There ARE great things in the movie. The opening setup is hilarious, and the acting is phenomenal. Jim Carrey brings us his best performance to date. I thought he was really good in "The Truman Show," but even in that movie, he did some of the trademark Jim Carrey funny faces. Those funny faces are thankfully nowhere to be seen in "Man on the Moon." Courtney Love was absolutely wonderful as his devoted girlfriend. I've never seen Courtney Love in such a sweet role, and she was totally believable. I just wish that she was in the movie a lot more. Danny DeVito was good as Andy Kaufman's agent, but it's all very distracting during the "Taxi" scenes, because of DeVito's role in that show. Paul Giamatti (a lot of people don't know this, but he's the son of the late Bartlett Giamatti, the former Major League Baseball commissioner) once again proves that he's one of the best character actors on the planet. Paul Giamatti was "Pig Vomit" in Howard Stern's (very entertaining and underrated) movie, "Private Parts," and he was also in "The Truman Show" with Jim Carrey. His roles are usually pretty small, but he brings a whole lot to a movie. WWF fans will be delighted to see Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler make an appearance, and there are quite a few interesting cameos. The MOST interesting is the cameo by a "Saturday Night Live" alumnus who plays the role of Michael Richards ("Kramer" from "Seinfeld").
Milos Forman is a great director. As I already mentioned, he directed "The People vs. Larry Flynt," but he also directed "Amadeus" and "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest." He's an immensely talented director with several biopics under his belt, but this one is slightly disappointing. The writing team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are usually great together. Also big on biopics, they wrote "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and Tim Burton's "Ed Wood," two great screenplays (they also wrote the two "Problem Child" movies, so they're not perfect). The ending of "Man on the Moon" should be a lot sadder than it is, but it almost seems like they wanted to get the sad part outta the way to make more room for laughs. Perhaps that was part of being "Kaufmanesque" though, I'm not sure.
I really wanted
to like "Man on the Moon," and I guess I did, but not as much as I'd hoped.
Perhaps the fact that I knew almost nothing about Andy Kaufman means that
the movie wasn't meant for me. Maybe it's something more for the Kaufman
fans. The best I can say for those who aren't big on Andy Kaufman is that
you may be amused with the movie, but you won't love it, nor will you learn
much more about him. However, Andy Kaufman fans might adore this movie,
and call it a fine tribute. It almost makes me wish I was one of them.