Rating: Summary: Learn all about Andy Kaufman Review: I didn't quite know who Andy was until I watched this riviting movie. I had heard about him from R.E.M, there famous song about him,"Man on the Moon", and I instantly became curious with him. (Anything that R.E.M mentions I have to research) Not only was the movie factual it was HILARIOUS! I had no idea that Andy played Latka on "Taxi"! And the whole Tony Clifton thing was to die for. The movie covered so much of his life, even his death which I cried over for a while. The DVD has the true story of Andy, which is pretty close (no very close) to the movie. Plus it had the fabulous music videos for "Man on the Moon" and "The Great Beyond", both of which are about Andy.
Rating: Summary: Read the book it's 100 times better... Review: I have read the book this movie is based on, "Andy Kaufman Revealed!: Best Friend Tells All" by Bob Zmuda, and loved it, so I was looking forward to the movie. Although not a horrible movie, it really dosent let you know the real Andy. It jumps around too much, not letting the viewer really know what to care about. The book goes much more into detail, so I actully know what is going on at all times. I kept imagining veiers who havent read the book not trully understanding what was going on. After I read ther book I cried my eyes out, even after reading a few times. The movie dosent have the same emotion. If you are a fan of Andy Kaufman, or just interested in his life, read the book, it is a great read even if you are not a fan. On a side note...all the actors were great in the film, Paul Giamatti as Zmuda and Jim Carrey as Andy were really good and very believable in their parts.
Rating: Summary: If You Believe they Put a Man on the Moon Review: Milos Forman's biopic Man on the Moon is an interesting film: as entertainment its pretty good as a biography of the late Andy Kaufman it seems to be a little lacking. The strange thing is that I don't quite know why I feel this way since I know little about the life of Kaufman. Jim Carrey does a good job of imitation in this film. Parts of the story come across as Jim Carrey imitating Kaufam imatating Carrey. Once again I'm not sure if this was an intended effect or strange coincidence. I do know if I wanted to see an impersonation Carrey is probably the best to do one of this character. The storyline generally follows Kaufman's life from his childhood to his death from lung cancer at age 35. Along the way we see snippets of his career as a performance audience and as a comedian. Many of the major life events are here but they somehow seem flat. We get the years on the sitcom Taxi, the wrestling, the Lawler controversy but it all seems contrived. Kaufman's biggest draw was that he did not care what his audience thought of him as long as they were made to think. An annoyed audience was as good as a happy one. This fact is well brought out in the Tony Clifton material. The DVD has a few extras woth noting. There is a Spotlight on Location which relies heavily upon interviews with Danny Devito who acted as producer and star in the film. There are a few minor deleted scenes, a text biography of Kaufman with Easter eggs that give clips of performances and two music videos by REM All in all not a bad viewing experience but certainly not the greatest or as good as it could have been.
Rating: Summary: Does it really matter? Review: This movie proves it is virtually impossible to make a biography of Andy Kaufman, who defied any attempt to pigeon hole him. I wasn't a big fan of Kaufman after seeing one of his women wrestling fiascos, but I could appreciate where his brand of humor was coming from. He tried to challenge the audience, in many cases belittle them, and in most cases greatly annoy them. His life was a quixotic one, highlighted briefly by his memorable role as Latka on Taxi, which is glossed over in this movie. It was one of the few aspects of his life that would lend itself to biography. I thought Carrey did a reasonably good job of impersonating Kaufman, but it is still Carrey playing Kaufman, and Kaufman is not that far removed for viewers to note the all too obvious differences. I thought Carrey was best in playing Kaufman's alter ego Tony Clifton, one of the many tricks Kaufman employed, but also (it seems) a way to let of steam. I think Kaufman's ultimate plunge into the world of women's wrestling precipitated his downfall, as it really showed how shallow his routines were. His attempts to shock the audience had reached their nadir and it led me to believe that behind it all Kaufman didn't really have that much to offer. It was all a way to disguise his own inadequacies. Kaufman may as well have been a man on the moon for what little we understood about him. But then did it really matter.
Rating: Summary: Pathetic Film About A Pathetic Comedian Review: Like Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufmann is a comedian one either loves or hates. Although I find Carrey quite hillarious, there's nothing he could have possibly done to turn the life of an at-best mediocre comedian like Kauffman into a movie worth watching. As the movie shows, Kaufmann was a comedian primarily to himself and he was his own audience: he was never really interested in entertaining anyone else and it showed. It's ironic that his role as Latka Gravas in "Taxi" was really his one and only claim to fame and it was the role he hated playing the most. The film itself is as stale and moronic as Kaufmann's humor and personality. I'm sure any individual coming upon this movie would find a biography of their own life far more interesting than that of this joke of an actor. A very forgettable film about a very forgettable "comedian." Throughout the movie, I was seriously debating whether to walk out and leave; the only reason I stayed was to be polite to my company. After watching such a boring movie about a boring comedian, I felt that Kaufmann got the better of me even from the grave by having me pay for a show that has nothing to show. The movie comes across as a cheap eulogy about a nobody whose few admirers are still desperately trying to keep him alive in a fading spotlight. Hardly worth renting and definitely not worth owning.
Rating: Summary: 4 stars just for the extras & Jim's Elvis Impersonation! Review: Definitely not my favourite Jim Carrey film, but he was very good in it. If you didn't know, or didn't like Andy Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey), then this film will not really appeal to you. I've known the "Man On The Moon" song by R.E.M. for quite a while, and always wondered about the 'Andy Kaufman' mentioned in it. I'd never heard of the film, or Andy Kaufman, up until I saw a couple of clips from it, and then watched it at home. The film as a whole, was good, and I enjoyed Jim Carrey as he is a great actor. I didn't get much of Andy Kaufman's humour. I found Tony Clifton quite amusing, when he was singing, but it did get VERY confusing. Andy Kaufman was Tony Clifton and Tony Clifton was Andy Kaufman - maybe! I suppose everyone has their own alter ego, but these two go beyond the confines of that! My dad worked out who was playing Tony Clifton when the two of them were on stage, before I did, and that's what I thought at the end . . . But the last shot ruined that thought! I found the film very slow to begin with, and some of the various characters weren't introduced very well, including his parents and Bob. My favourite bits in the film were: Andy Kaufman playing his bongos to the audience, and getting them to sing along; Andy Kaufman's Elvis impersonation (how HOT did he look?); and the very start of the film was hilarious. It must have been a projectionist's nightmare at the cinema! The ending was very sad, and Jim Carrey looked very strange lying in the coffin. And then it goes on a bit, and you see something that makes you think about the whole film. Believe me, it's a film you will remember, whether you liked it or hated it. The feeling you get will stay with you. Was it Andy Kaufman's final prank? None of his friends believed him when he said he was dying, and everyone believed it was just another one of his tricks. But it's impossible that he can come back 19 years after his death. What happened, happened. And he died well before his time. His humour probably wasn't appreciated in his time, but it may or may not be appreciated now. He's like Elvis in a way . . . went before his time. If you're not old enough to remember the TV series, "Taxi" (1978-83), then you may not know who Andy Kaufman was. Some of the original cast of "Taxi" appeared in Man On The Moon, including Christopher Lloyd. The extras were quite interesting on the DVD. I found the deleted scenes not very helpful - sometimes they can add an extra insight to the film - and I thought one particular deleted scene should have stayed in. Warning: if you watch the film, and then watch the very first extra (Spotlight On Location: The Making Of Man On The Moon) straight away, you end up even MORE confused! I was also glad to see some of Andy Kaufman's original performances featured, although I couldn't find them to start with! It was shocking how Jim Carrey managed to become so similar looking to Andy - although the hair was a little OTT at times. I was glad to see the R.E.M. videos featured too, obviously, "Man On The Moon", and "The Great Beyond", as they are two great songs. Both had original concepts for videos, which is very unusual to see these days. All in all, it's not a film I would necessarily watch again. But I will definitely remember it.
Rating: Summary: This movie is really great Review: This movie was really good, but at the same time, it was a tearjerker.
Rating: Summary: A good movie... Review: I watched this a few times in a week. I enjoy J.Carrey's performance as Andy Kaufman. DeVito is great too, as usual. Everyone is talented except for maybe Courtney Love, -- I don't even know what she's doing acting in a movie... This was a terrific bio-pic but we don't know much about Andy beyond being a little 'out there' in his career, in that respect, it's not too personal and focuses more on the quirky showbiz aspects of his life, with many guest appearances. Even when he died, it ends on a portrayal of his character, Tony Clifton.
Rating: Summary: May be Jim Carrey's best performance Review: What makes this film a classic for me is the way the movie investigates Andy Kaufman's form of entertainment in a way that brings out many different emotions (at least in me it did), as opposed to editing his history in favor of a comedy full of laughs. Some of the scenes of Andy's standup routine seem downright painful to watch, as we witness some of the stunts he pulled (e.g. the Fridays episode) that eventually led to his falling out of favor with the mainstream. In this sense it reminds me alot of the movie "Barfly" which was loosely based on the life of poet Charles Bukowski. We see the artist for what he is, and often it is hard to find out exactly, except to observe his art and try to make inferences. So was the case with Kaufman. There is no Freudian shorthand that can be supplied here. Rather we simply celebrate the person through his art and actions in life. Finally I must commend Jim Carrey for his wonderful performance. He has the advantage of being an artist who is acting out the role of an artist, and in this sense we expect more from him, which is indeed the case.
Rating: Summary: i was never a fan..... Review: of andy kaufman. i didn't find him particularly funny. but when i saw this film, with jim carrey doing a flawless performance (so flawless that the people who knew kaufman best couldn't believe it), i understood more of what made kaufman tick. i still don't find him funny, but now i understand why he did what he did. an amazing movie, and an amazing performance, make this film worth the money. a great journey of a man that was vastly misunderstood, and i find myself sympathetic to his efforts, and heartbroken at the untimely and painful way he died.
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