MAN ON THE MOON

R : Released December 1999

starring Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, and Paul Giamatti

written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski - directed by Milos Forman

B-

Milos Forman has an obsession. Whether it be a child prodigy turned master composer (AMADEUS) or a unrepentent pornographer turned free speech protector (THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT), Forman's subjects have a barely obscured thread -- each of them is an unexplainable, unpredictable genius. In his films, Forman may be trying to explore what makes Forman himself tick, but more likely, he shares the fascination many people have with the multicolored flaws in their idiosyncratic heroes.

He may have met his match, however, in Andy Kaufman, the avant-garde comedian at the center of Forman's latest biopic, MAN ON THE MOON. Kaufman is still the center of debate: perhaps a genius ahead of his time, perhaps a troubled man with an inability to realize he wasn't very funny. Whatever the case, he was certainly unique, a mercurial, tempestuous character with a world view and style that was unforgettable. To try to recapture it, or worse, to attempt to duplicate it, is a fool's game and a nearly impossible task.

Still, Forman has given it a try, and has put all of the right elements in place. He hired the best mimic Hollywood had to offer, Jim Carrey, to play Kaufman. He meticulously created the details of Kaufman's singularly sensational life: his success on ABC's sitcom TAXI, his career-damaging dramatics in professional wrestling, his battles with cancer, and his triumphant concert at Carnegie Hall. He even cast his standby actress of the moment, Courtney Love, as Kaufman's love interest.

With all of these pieces in place, however, the picture still doesn't generate any sense of electricity or vitality. The reason? MAN ON THE MOON is missing its main ingredient, the glue that held all of these forces together: Kaufman himself. As good a performer as Jim Carrey is, his performance of Kaufman is sheer plagairism. Like anyone copying off of someone else's paper, the watered-down version isn't nearly as good as the original. Carrey, at best, only faintly reminds you of the first time you saw Kaufman's dazzling, infamous sketches. Watching Carrey, it's as if the world's most in-your-face comic is speaking to you through a haze.

The script for MAN ON THE MOON doesn't help, either. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (who also authored FLYNT) try to insert a sense of zaniness with their screeplay's structure, having an Andy-inspired exposition that is the film's best moment. But once tangled in the story, the writers are at a loss, having Andy think of most things on a whim (his wrestling bouts) or bringing up details of his life out of left field. His cancer diagnosis is never seen, for instance, because the authors wish to play a game of is-Kaufman-fooling-or-not. Rather than give weight to Kaufman's experience (and give the audience an opportunity to care for Kaufman), the authors seem hellbent on outdoing Kaufman, blandly inhabiting Kaufman's comic sensibility.

Forman also seems unable to generate superior performances from his cast. Carrey is working very hard, but talk of an Oscar nomination is overstating the case; clearly, his study of Kaufman has been extensive, but impersonation and acting are two different things. Courtney Love proves that she's better off as a rock singer, while Danny DeVito, as Kaufman's manager Leonard Shapiro (who is, by the by, an executive producer of the film) stays flat and uninteresting for the film's duration. Only Paul Giamatti, as Kaufman's writer/sidekick Bob Zmuda (also an executive producer), brings any depth to the proceedings.

MAN ON THE MOON isn't an awful movie, but it makes a fatal biographical bungle -- at the end of the film, the viewer has no substantially new insights into Kaufman. He's as much of an enigma, however charasmatic, as he was at the beginning. Still, I can't help thinking that this may be what Kaufman intended all along. Somewhere out there, I suspect, Andy is having a good laugh on all of us.