Man on the Moon

Man on the Moon. 1999 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, Paul Giamatti, Vincent Schiavelli
Director: Milos Forman
Buy Man on the Moon at Amazon.

Jim Carrey stars as entertainer and performance artist Andy Kaufman, and in true Kaufman fashion, it is explained right at the start of the film that the most important things that he lived through were "changed around and mixed up for dramatic purposes". And then, the closing credits ran. Wait, I paid money for a three minute movie?!

Seriously, though, many of Kaufman's career highlights are depicted, starting with his "foreign man" stage persona doing a great Elvis Presley imitation that grabs the attention of talent agent George Shapiro (DeVito), who immediately signs him to the ABC sitcom Taxi. Most of the original cast of that show portrayed themselves, except for DeVito, and Tony Danza, who couldn't get along with Kaufman in real life. Andy also starts making appearances on Saturday Night Live, and yes, the "Mighty Mouse singer" is recreated for the film.

Shapiro witnesses a performance from an abrasive lounge singer named Tony Clifton, which to his surprise, is a persona created by Kaufman and his partner Bob Zmuda (Giamatti), who also performed as Clifton at times. Andy's newfound fame starts giving him problems, as the people who are paying to see him only want to see Latka Gravas from Taxi and the Mighty Mouse singer. Frustrated by this, Kaufman goes to the Taxi set as Clifton, and makes an ass of himself until he's removed from the set.

Kaufman's professional wrestling exploits are also chronicled, complete with Jerry Lawler appearing as himself. Around this time, Andy was banned from SNL for life after a vote from the studio audience members. Kaufman is injured during a match with Lawler in Memphis, and they also stage a profanity laced confrontation on Late Night With David Letterman. Despite the revelation that Lawler and Kaufman were friends, and had carefully worked the whole storyline out, Andy still is not allowed to return to Saturday Night Live.

After the cancellation of Taxi, Kaufman becomes ill, and announces to family and friends that he has a rare form of lung cancer. Many people refuses to believe it, thinking Andy's just embarking on an elaborate prank, and Zmuda thinks that a fake death would be fantastic. With time running out, Kaufman entertains at Carnegie Hall, and takes his audience after the show out for milk and cookies (this actually happened in real life sooner in Kaufman's life when he was in good health). With his health deteriorating, Andy heads for the Philippines for something called psychic surgery, but it is just a scam, and he dies soon after. A year later, at The Comedy Store's tribute to Andy, Tony Clifton appears onstage, and the camera reveals Zmuda in the audience, hinting that Kaufman faked his death.

Recommended, but still fairly inaccurate at times.