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"Man on the Moon" has an interesting premise: A terrific comedian (Jim Carrey) playing another very famous comedian, Andy Kaufman.
This "based on a true story" film chronicles Kaufman's life as he goes from being a child who loves to pretend he's on TV to a struggling young comedian, and eventually to a successful TV actor (he played Latke on the 1970's sitcom "Taxi".
From his early days doing standup comedy in clubs (for no pay and poor audience response), Andy insists he isn't a comedian. He doesn't really tell jokes, and honestly, I don't find much of what Andy does, performance-wise, terribly amusing.
Oh, I laughed a lot, and "Man on the Moon" does succeed at being intriguing, it appeared that Andy was funny because he wasn't. Let me clarify that: the funniest scenes are the ones where Andy can't get the audience to laugh, or the ones from his off-screen life, when he isn't performing.
I did find a few parts of his act entertaining: Andy's long-running TV gag, wrestling women to prove that men are superior, is hilarious. His alter- ego character, an obnoxious lounge singer, is also uproariously laughable. But his stand-up acts -even the successful ones- just weren't impressive. Although his imitation of Elvis is excellent, it isn't comical.
Keep in mind that my opinion of Andy Kaufman as a comedian is based on the portrayal of him in "Man on the Moon". Perhaps he was very funny in real life - obviously, he was quite successful, at least for a while. And I'm well aware that film writers can take a creative license with the facts of a person's life! I haven't seen much of Kaufman's work, except for a few episodes of "Taxi", so I don't have much room for comparison.
Although slightly disappointed (I thought that this would be one of the funniest movies of all time, since it stars one of my favorite comedians (Carrey) as another real life comedian) I would certainly recommend "Man on the Moon" as a diverting comedy. Carrey's acting is superb, not only in a comedic sense, but also in the serious dramatic parts of the movie.
On a final note, Danny DeVito (who co-starred with Kaufman on "Taxi") has a notable supporting role as Andy's manager, and rock singer Courtney Love portrays Andy's girlfriend beautifully. Naturally, Kaufman's other "Taxi" costars cameo as their old selves.
Rating: R for language and sexual content
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