Review of "Man on the Moon"

Was Andy Kaufman a genius or a lunatic?

"Man on the Moon" takes a position staunchly in the middle. In a year that has been filled with fantastic movies, Hollywood has delivered again.

Jim Carrey has been hailed by critics and friends of Andy Kaufman for his portrayal of the late comedian and he deserved every accolade. His performance is nothing less than uncanny. It is almost as if Kaufman faked his own death and took up the role of Jim Carrey just so he could make a movie about his own life. You almost feel Kaufman laughing at you because he got you again.

The supporting cast is splendid. Courtney Love - who seems to be making a career out of playing girlfriends of whako's - does a great job with the party of Carrey's girlfriend. Danny DeVito plays Robert Shapiro, Andy's agent so he of course does not appear in any of the "Taxi" scenes - which was a little distracting.

The movie doesn't expect you to have liked Andy Kaufman - my wife hated him - and it doesn't want to change your mind. What it does do is help you understand who Andy was and why he did some of the outrageous things that he did. You don't have to like him - my wife still doesn't.

I remember many of the events depicted in the film and I was one of those who thought Kaufman was a genius. He pushed things to far more than once in his attempt to redefine what was funny, but when he was on he was great.

The movie only touches on Kaufman's portrayal of Ladka on "Taxi" but that is because Kaufman hated that role and that part of his life. It was something that he never wanted to be a part of, so we are only shown moments. But that is fine. We all know him from "Taxi" so why rehash? Instead, we see his pro-wrestling fiasco that got him voted off SNL and his last performance at Carnegie Hall. These are the events that give us insight into Kaufman's personality.

There are a few narrative gaps in the story. At one point, we are told that "Taxi" has been cancelled and we haven't heard about the show for almost an hour so we didn't realize it was still going on. But these gaps are few and overall, this will stand as one of the best biopic's ever made. Take the time to go see it - even if you hated Andy Kaufman.

Was he a genius? Yes. Was he a lunatic? Yes.