Man on the Moon

Ed Weinberger

I do vaguely recall Andy Kaufman in "Taxi" but the remainder of this rather zany depiction of his life just reminded me of a compendium of the "Goon Show" meets "Mork and Mindy". His sense of what was entertaining was eclectic to say the least, and his stand-up routines reminded me a little of Peter Sellers when he was using his exaggerated (European) accents to try and get a laugh. Nobody is much interested in these stage shows until talent agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) spots him and sees something original about his talents. Exposure on television followed, then his casting in the sitcom about New York's amiable mix of yellow cab drivers - the series that made the name of Danny DeVito too - before he embarked on a curious and one-sided career wrestling women. It was this latter profession that introduced him to male wrestler Jerry Lawler who tired of this and took to fighting him man-to-man. Needless to say, he's no match for the man with the "Piledriver" so has to resort to other ways to keep ahead of the ever changing entertainment game. His behaviour becomes more erratic and soon nobody with a television camera will touch the man... Jim Carrey is a natural at these quirky and over-the-top interpretations, and here is no different. He immerses himself into the role and manages to very successfully convey the sheer irritation factor of this man who had practically no talent but an ability to pander the "Emperor's New Clothes" theory to an audience who thought, initially, it better to laugh with the crowd than to scratch their heads and wonder what they were actually laughing at. On that front, Milos Forman has created a cleverly structured biopic of a man who was flawed and obsessed and who was fuelled by a market place desperate for something different. What I didn't feel here was any empathy for Kaufman. The industry is hard, cruel and unforgiving to the best of them and maybe it is a testament to the acting, but I genuinely felt this person hadn't the skills required to entertain at an holiday camp for the hard of hearing. Maybe it's more relevant to Americans who can better associate with their standard and style of 1970s television programming but as an observer from elsewhere this come cross as entirely self indulgent. Sorry.