Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5928 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-04-04
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Widescreen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"There is no real you," jokes Lynn Margulies (Courtney Love) to her boyfriend, Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey), as he grows more contemplative during a battle with cancer. "I forgot," he says, playing along, though the question of Kaufman's reality is always at issue in Milos Forman's underappreciated Man on the Moon.

The story of Kaufman's quick rise to fame through early appearances on Saturday Night Live and the conceptual stunts that made his club and concert appearances an instant legend in the irony-fueled 1970s and early '80s, Man on the Moon never makes the mistake of artificially delineating Comic Andy from Private Andy. True, we get to see something of his private interest in meditation and some of the flakier extremes of alternative medicine, but even these interludes suggest the presence of an ultimate con behind apparent miracles of transformation.

Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flynt) allege that transformation was Kaufman's purpose--more than a shtick but less than a destiny. As we see him constantly up the ante on the credibility of his performance personae (the obnoxious nightclub comic Tony Clifton; the insulting, misogynistic professional wrestler), Forman makes it harder and harder to detect Kaufman's sleight of hand. But it's there, always there, always the transcendent Andy watching the havoc he creates and the emotions he stirs.

Carrey is magnificent as Kaufman, re-creating uncannily detailed comedy pieces etched in the memory of anyone who remembers the real Andy. But while Carrey's mimicry of Kaufman is flawless and funny, the actor probes much deeper into an enigmatic character who, in life, was often a moving target even for those closest to him. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
In a remarkable and touching performance, Jim Carrey tones down his usual idiosyncrasies to play late avant garde comedian Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. In life, Kaufman was a complex, controversial, and, at times, insane performer, and Carrey captures this, as well as the subtle nuances of his more toned-down private life. Director Milos Forman stages faithful recreations of Kaufman's pranks, method-like immersion in characters, and even scenes from Taxi, the hit TV show that made him a star, but also follows the comedian through his tragic diagnosis with cancer and his loving relationship with his girlfriend Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love). Danny DeVito, Kaufman's real-life TAXI co-star, plays George Shapiro, the manager who discovers him and is willing to put up with all his antics, acknowledging Andy's wry genius. Along the way on his self-made rocky road of stardom, Kaufman reinvents himself as a foreign man who mangles jokes, and as Elvis; lip-syncs the Mighty Mouse cartoon theme after a full minute of dead air time on Saturday Night Live; becomes a professional wrestler, and subsequently manages to sabotage his TV career. The supporting cast in Man on the Moon is excellent, including Paul Giamatti has his comedic partner-in-crime, and many members of the real cast of Taxi.

Customer Reviews

Thank you very much.
Man on the Moon, a movie I watched purely because I liked the REM track, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. In fact I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy. The movie itself represents some of Jim Carrey's finest work in creating an accurate and believable representation of the often controversial but always hilarious Andy Kaufman.

Through Carrey's performance we see the conception and development of Kaufman's favourite characters, his goofy Elvis, the obnoxious Tony Clifton and Taxi's Latka Gravas. We also see some of Kaufman's off the wall comic genius replicated by Carrey, some of Andy's bad taste gags, and in my opinion the best presentation from beyond the grave that I've ever seen.

Most of us in the UK know Andy Kaufman only as Latka in his grubby white overalls and his squeaky staccato speech, but this movie shows us that Andy was so much more. His cross-gender wrestling was both bizarre and hysterically funny, his mad cap Saturday Night live performances (I'll never watch Mighty Mouse the same way again!), and his almost psychopathic desire to make people laugh.

A great movie and in the words of Latka the best mechanic in New York, "Thank you very much!"

Impressive
This is absolutely the best Jim Carrey I have ever seen. The story about Andy Kaufman is of course very much summarized in this movie but in my opinion it sketches a solid picture of the man who was best known in Europe for his role in Taxi (Latka) but in the US was known as a very controversial comedian (and cross gender wrestler). Jim Carrey plays the role of Andy with very much confidence and depth and Danny DeVito is much better then in most of his roles. Anyone who liked Eternal Sunshine should see this performance by Jim Carrey!

incredible movie of an incredible man!
This movie tells the story of Andy Kaufman, an American comic kinda famous in the 70s and then prematurily dead. The true story is amazing by itself (Kaufman wasn't interested in making the public just laugh, he wanted them to react and partecipate!). Jim Carrey does his best performance in my opinion (where is the academy award, stupids??), Milos Forman directs, Paul Giamatti gives a precious contribution, Danny De Vito plays Shapiro (kaufmann's producer and friend, who produced this movie). The extra show how Forman has represented true facts and situations in detail. A must see!