Rating: 
Summary: Jim Carrey IS Andy Kaufman
Review: I wanted to see this movie in the cinema, but my husband doesn't like Andy Kaufman and was not interested. So I finally rented it from Blockbuster. I was astounded. This has to be Jim Carrey's best work ever. He IS Andy Kaufman in this movie. I was a fan of Andy Kaufman since I was just a young teenager. I remember the first time I saw him on a day time talk show. He was off-beat and hilarious. He and Danny DeVito made "Taxi". This movie captures the real Andy Kaufman, how he was misunderstood and not appreciated by people like my poor husband. Warning: If you wear your heart on your sleeve, you're going to cry. I cried the last 20 minutes of the movie and for 45 minutes afterwards. My son, who is only 12, watched the last half with me and he liked it too. He had never heard of Andy Kaufman, but now he is interested in him, all due to this movie. My son is an amateur comedian himself (since he was 2 years old) and an experienced class clown--yes he gets in trouble for it but he gets laughs too. A very fine tribute by Danny DeVito, both as an actor and as the film's producer, to Andy Kaufman. I've never heard Courtney Love sing but she CAN act. The people who didn't like this movie probably didn't like Andy when he was alive. A "must see" for an Andy Kaufman fan. When the price drops, I am buying it.
Rating:
Summary: MY FAVE MOVIE
Review: I first saw this film in Las Vegas, the day before the dawn of the New Millennium. This was the last film I saw in the 20th century. And what a film it is. I love this film so much. Everything about is so authentic and realistic. Jim Carrey gives one of the best performances I've ever seen any actor give. It's an absolute crime he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar. I think the Academy is having trouble with the fact the he really can ACT and is not only capable of ACE VENTURA humor. I had NO IDEA who Andy Kaufman was until I saw this film. But now I am much wiser. The man was a comic genius (as is Jim Carrey). His brand of humor was the most original I have ever witnessed. The character of Tony Clifton is THE funniest creation of all time. I am always acting out scenes as Tony Clifton. He's the best thing about this totally great movie. The soundtrack is also decent. I had never listened to one single song by REM until I saw this. I really do like their MAN ON THE MOON song. It reminds me of the end of this movie and how happy/sad it was. But you know what? I'm one of those people that believe that Andy is still alive. The DVD is in DTS/Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm STILL looking for answers from the great beyond!
Review: I only heard about Kaufman a couple of years back on Comedy Central ("Andy Kaufman: I'm from Hollywood" which shows every 90 days), but was only a retrospective of the intergender/Jerry Lawler controversy. I had only rented "MotM" from Blockbuster, just as about I was going to get "A Fish Called Wanda" (Don't I have some tastes for an 11 year old?). Bad choice. Besides, even most Monty Python solo projects are better. "Moon" was a lot of spam, bacon, tomato, and spam. <g> Jim Carrey as Andy as the Foreign Man from Caspiar (Latka Gravas, for Taxi fans) even admitted it was stupid at the beginning of the movie, but probably only to get the misunderstanding people out of the theater when it was being shown in cinemas. The Foreign Man did say one truth, though, "The most important things in my life are mixed around...", and some characters were created for dr, dr, dramatic purposes. Look at the end of the credits, it's there. Andy's writer and best friend, Bob Zmuda was in the film somewhere, but not as himself! That makes the film worse! There was a producer (?) named George Shapiro, and a character by that name was in the movie (Well, he might have had to do with Andy, but Danny DeVito? <Latka>NNNOOOOOO!</Latka>). If you even try to get the movie, get a DVD-ROM drive, if you don't already ahve it, and the DVD with real Kaufman features. This rating would have got 5 if it had been a real bio and not a dramedy. VVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLAAARE... can't judge on Tony Clifton, though. This movie is "like something my dog puked up!" Two stars if not 1, court adjourned.
Rating: 
Summary: Great acting in an average film about an extraordinary life
Review: As an introduction to the life of Andy Kaufman, MAN ON THE MOON succeeds well enough for most American viewers. Jim Carrey's performance is, as Kaufman's friends and family have said, like watching a psychic channel the spirit of Kaufman himself. Carrey's resemblance to Kaufman is positively spooky. If you know nothing of Kaufman, you'll come away from the film with a sense of the major phases of his career and life. But if you know a bit about Kaufman going in, you won't find much more. It's a surface-skimming flip-chart of the major events of his life. Kaufman's TAXI experience unfolds in a few short scenes, with the actors from that show mostly wasted. I'm not sure the all of them even get to speak. Granted, MAN ON THE MOON is not the "TAXI Story", but TAXI was a hugely important part of Kaufman's very short life. In fact, he didn't live much past the cancellation of TAXI, and didn't have too much of a career before it. To skim over it is to avoid understanding him. Likewise, his SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN experiences are rushed. We get no sense of how important he was to those two shows, nor why his outrageous later behavior on them would cause such consternation. We're just shown Carrey replaying the most famous incidents on those shows. And in at least one regard, the portrayal of SNL events is flatly inaccurate. Lorne Michaels didn't preside over the vote to kick Kaufman off the show; that was Dick Ebersol's job. What's unfortunate about the structure of the movie is that, although it's largely just a replaying of Kaufman's most outrageous acts, there's just enough background material to keep us from experiencing those moments as did the original audience. A good example is Tony Clifton. We don't get angry at Tony Clifton, because we know it's all a joke. That takes Andy's edge off, and diminishes the moment. To be sure, at some point, MAN ON THE MOON would've had to reveal Clifton's identity, but I'm not sure we needed to know at the outset. For me, MAN ON THE MOON was just too much sequential shorthand. It needed to be more labyrinthine, like Kaufman's own mind. I wanted more set-up and more sleight-of-hand so that I could truly feel Kaufman's comedy anew. It's as if the filmmakers forgot that celluloid persists. Fifty years from now, a lot of this movie won't make sense to first-time viewers, because everything is told with a wink and a nod to the knowing. In my view, the movie should have been made as if the audience didn't know ANYTHING about American comedy of the 1970s and 80s, and certainly as if they didn't know a thing about Andy Kaufman. The writers would then have been forced to start with the man and move to the comedy, instead of starting with the comedy and trying to explain the man. It's fascinating to me that an acclaimed foreign-born director like Milos Forman would've effectively written off the overseas market by making a film that just wallows in its own culture-specific in-jokes. If you don't know something about American culture, you're going to have problems understanding large parts of this film. Oddly, the most satisfying parts of the movie are those which aren't the best-known parts of his life. Time is taken to explain the story of his failed special, and we really get to know something about the way his mind worked as we see him put it together. Yet the far more important parts of his life, at least in terms of time devoted to them, never get anything like the same kind of storytelling care. None of this is to say it's really a bad movie. It's worth seeing, and it will leave you affected. You'll wonder about the border between comedy and reality for days after seeing this film. But I doubt this film will serve subsequent generations as a definitive work about Kaufman, nor will it rank even among the better films of Milos Forman's career. [DVD Notes: A reasonable collection of extra features make this worth purchasing in the DVD format. The documentary and 'spotlight on location' features are particularly worthwhile, though the absence of director commentary borders on unforgivable. Also, the deleted scenes aren't particularly noteworthy, and no rationale is given for their deletion.]
Rating: 
Summary: Here I come to sink the daaaaay..!
Review: Pay heed to Mr Carrey's warning, right at the very first scene, about this movie being dreadful, terrible, and please don't watch it. He isn't kidding! Or is he? Some say there's an inner joke to this film; that either you get it or you don't, and depending on that you'll love or hate the movie. What can I say, I didn't get it and not from lack of trying for I saw this dud twice. And yes, I do know who Andy Kaufman was and the sort of comedy he made, but still I didn't get it! I was bored to death (was that the joke?)! I understand Jim Carrey draws bigger crowds to the box office than Edward Norton (Forman's other actor in mind for the role), but ticket sales aside, this doesn't help the movie much. To begin with, Carrey doesn't look at all like Andy Kaufman; he looks like Ace Ventura doing Andy Kaufman, which gets quite annoying quite soon (was that the joke?); from the very start, to be honest! Norton does look like him and, since he's no comedian, one would've seen a portrayal, not a mere impersonation (was that the joke?). But Hollywood being Hollywood, the bigger star the better, even if it sinks the show altogether (was that the joke?). Yet the show would have sunk anyway because there's no point to it (was that the joke?). Not only you don't get to see the "real" Kaufman, if there ever was one (was that the joke?), you don't even get to see the Kaufman you remember seeing a few moments ago, at the switch of a channel, on all those TAXI and SNL reruns on 'Nick at Nite' (was that the joke?)! Instead you're forced to see an endlessly tiresome docudrama that gets nowhere (was that the joke?) about an unfunny fellow you couldn't care less (was that the joke?), but who's definitely NOT Andy Kaufman (was that the joke?)! The Kaufman I remember always made me laugh, even at his worst, even when he outright flopped! I could always get the joke with him! Here, I could only pray for the film to end (was that the joke?)! And it's downright cruel to show the real cast from TAXI playing themselves 25 years later, right next to a younger Carrey who cannot bring back the old magic that was, only leave us with a bittersweet aftertaste of fine comedy that isn't -and won't- be made anymore (was that the joke?). P.S.: If you DID get the joke, please tell me: What was it?
Rating:
Summary: Good For What it Was
Review: I went to see this not because I am a big Kaufman or Carrey fan (though Carrey can be hilarious, and I did think Kaufman did a killer Elvis and a couple amusing routines)but because I liked The People VS Larry Flynt, and I love biopics, and it was well reviewed, and the trailers looked good...plus I wanted to see the cast of Taxi playing themselves! When I say "good for what it was", I mean as good as a biopic can be of Kaufman, who most people only know as Latka Gravas (sp?) died very young (sadly)and seemed to have a limited, cult following. Jim Carrey obviously threw himself into the role and gave it everything he had, and did a dead-on impression of him. But I guess I am one of the few people who couldn't forget that I was watching Carrey do a dead-on Kaufman, and also thought from time to time, "Edward Norton resembled him much more". Carrey is just too good-looking (he is a really handsome guy, when he's not making some horrible face) though he obviously gained weight, looked as unattractive as possible, etc. There was just the usual problem that biopics have, where you can't help but notice that the person playing them is much better looking ( though there are some exceptions to this rule). That being said, I still had a great time, and am not sorry I went to see it- I was quite entertained. (though I wish they'd included his sobbing-playing-the-bongos routine). A good movie to see on Christmas Eve like we did, with the Carnegie Hall scene and all, and it did actually make me teary. DeVito was great as his frustrated manager. Courtney Love was in it less than I thought, fortunately. SO, to sum up, though I'm not a big fan of Kaufman, (don't dislike him, just can take him or leave him) I recommend it for the performances and filmmaking. Also, it was fun seeing the cast of Taxi back in their old roles-Marilu Henner was the only one who couldn't pull off being 20 years younger (not trying to be catty- I really did think she'd look about the same, but it was obvious she'd lost weight and had some 'work' done on her face). There were some very funny scenes, and some touching ones - not a bad way to spend a few hours.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Superb! A talented actor recreating a talented comedian. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Good Jim Carrey film
Review: I liked, this but sad, but this was a good movie, well you'll like this. If your a, Carrey fan watch this.....
Rating:
Summary: real thing is better
Review: This movie is entertaining and the story is well-told, but my problem is that it's not much more than Kaufman's routines done by Carrey. And while Carrey tries hard, I couldn't see him as anyone other than Jim Carrey. The physical differences between Jim and Andy are plainly seen when you look at documentary footage of Kaufman on the DVD. The movie offers no insight into Andy's madness and just reproduces old events that were much funnier when they were actually happening. I would recommend checking out documentaries on Kaufman (such as his insance wrestling career) if this film sparked your interest. Otherwise, if you've seen Kaufman's stuff, this movie sheds little light. However, the Tony Clifton stuff is quite funny, even moreso than when Andy did it.
Rating:
Summary: Carrey RULES!
Review: OK, two things I hated about this one and one i loved. First, Courtney Love. I despise the woman. I don't think people like her deserve to be in Hollywood. The lady is a drug addict and leeched her fame off her husband. I hate Courtney Love, and anything she is in ruins a movie from being great. Always has, always will. Second, JIM CARREY RULED. He was so amazing, I couldn't believe it was him. He didn't remind me of Carrey at all. From what I hear, he was just like Kaufman, and if that is true, I would've loved Andy. Jim Carrey made this movie watchable, in my opinion. Third, some of Andy's antics confused even me. I know Andy would've loved it, but when I'm watching a movie, I don't want to feel lost. Some things just were not explained well at all. All in all, an alright movie made great by Carrey and made horrid by Love.
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