Man on the Moon (1999)

The life and career of a legendary comedian, Andy Kaufman.

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Stars:

Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Gerry Becker

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Carrey	...	Andy Kaufman (as Tony Clifton)
Gerry Becker	...	Stanley Kaufman - Andy's Father
Greyson Erik Pendry	...	Little Michael Kaufman (as Greyson Pendry)
Brittany Colonna	...	Baby Carol Kaufman
Leslie Lyles	...	Janice Kaufman - Andy's Mother
Bobby Boriello	...	Little Andy Kaufman
George Shapiro	...	Mr. Besserman
Danny DeVito	...	George Shapiro
Budd Friedman	...	Budd Friedman
Tom Dreesen	...	Wiseass Comic
Thomas Armbruster	...	Improv Piano Player
Pamela Abdy	...	Diane Barnett
Wendy Polland	...	Little Wendy
Cash Oshman	...	Yogi
Matt Price	...	Meditation Student

Storyline

Man on the Moon is a biographical movie on the late comedian Andy Kaufman. Kaufman, along with his role on Taxi (1978), was famous for being the self-declared Intergender Wrestling Champion of the world. After beating women time and time again, Jerry Lawler (who plays himself in the movie), a professional wrestler, got tired of seeing all of this and decided to challenge Kaufman to a match. In most of the matches the two had, Lawler prevailed with the piledriver, which is a move by spiking an opponent head-first into the mat. One of the most famous moments in this feud was in the early 80s when Kaufman threw coffee on Lawler on Late Night with David Letterman (1982), got into fisticuffs with Lawler, and proceeded to sue NBC.

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Plot Keywords:

comedian | wrestling | eccentric | wrestler | gym | 

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Taglines:

Hello, my name is Andy and this is my DVD." [DVD release]

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief sexuality/nudity

Details

Country:

UK Germany Japan USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Andy Kaufman

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$82,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,515,585, 26 December 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$34,580,635, 20 February 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,Mutual Film Company,Jersey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Melissa Carrey: a Comedy Store waitress .

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Goofs

At the college theatre, several theatrical lighting fixtures can be seen from the back stage view. These are known as Electronic Theatre Control's "Source 4" fixtures and were not produced until 1995.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Andy Kaufman: Hello. I am Andy and I would like to thank you for coming to my movie. I wish it was *better*, you know, but... it is so stupid! It's terrible! I do not even like it. All of the most important things in my life are changed around and mixed up for dramatic purposes. So, I decided to cut out all of the baloney! Now the movie is much *shorter*.
[pause]
Andy Kaufman: In fact, this is the end of the movie. Thank you very much.

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Crazy Credits

In the beginning credits, Howdy Doody is also credited as "Himself."

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Connections

References Late Night with David Letterman: Episode dated 28 July 1982 (1982)

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Soundtracks

The Thing
Written by Lenny Pickett
Performed by Lenny Pickett & The House Band

User Reviews

Fair movie, but poor biography

I watched this movie already knowing quite a bit about Andy Kaufman and the things that he has done in the past. I was hoping to learn more about him after watching this movie. Unfortunately, I knew more about Andy Kaufman than this movie told me. As a biography, this movie wasn't so great. It didn't go into much about Andy's childhood or what he was like outside of work. Rather, it showed most of the skits and performances that Andy has done throughout his life, most of which you could learn about on MTV specials.

The acting was well done, especially by the star Jim Carrey. Carrey played Andy Kaufman. This was by far the best acting job I have ever seen Jim Carrey perform. One could argue he did a better job at Andy Kaufman's skits than Andy Kaufman himself did.

The plot and storyline, if not looking from a biography point of view, was very interesting. The best thing, in my opinion about the movie is learning more about how Andy Kaufman met his girlfriend, the scenes from Taxi and his wrestling career. I didn't care much for Tony Clifton but, as the movie states, he is a different person from Andy Kaufman all together.

I'd say this movie is worth a rent, don't go to theaters to see it. Jim Carrey deserves an Academy Award for his performance.