Movie · 1999 · Comedy, Drama, History · 1h 58m · R · English
Curator score: 5.9/10 (257.3K ratings)
Hello, my name is Andy and this is my movie.
Overview
The story of the life and career of eccentric avant-garde comedian, Andy Kaufman.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.9/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.81/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Miloš Forman
Production
Mutual Film Company, Universal Pictures, Jersey Films, Cinehaus, West/Shapiro Productions
Cast
Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, Paul Giamatti, Vincent Schiavelli, Peter Bonerz, Jerry Lawler, Gerry Becker, Leslie Lyles, Greyson Erik Pendry, Brittany Colonna, Bobby Boriello, George Shapiro, Budd Friedman, Tom Dreesen, Thomas Armbruster, Pamela Abdy, Wendy Polland, Cash Oshman, Matt Price
Curator Review
Verdict
A lively, off-kilter biopic anchored by a fearless Jim Carrey performance that captures Andy Kaufman’s provocation, sadness, and comic mystery. It’s uneven as a film, but the sheer commitment and the subject’s singularity make it a memorable watch.
Best for
fans of transformative acting
viewers who like unconventional biopics
people interested in comedy history and performance art
audiences who enjoy messy but ambitious character studies
Skip if
you want a clean, conventional rise-and-fall biopic
you dislike abrasive or alienating humor
you need a tightly structured screenplay
you prefer films that fully explain their subjects
Overview
Man on the Moon works less as a tidy biography than as a portrait of a performer who treated reality like a stage. Miloš Forman keeps the film moving through set pieces and public confrontations, letting the contradictions around Andy Kaufman stay unresolved. That choice can make the movie feel scattered, but it also suits a subject who thrived on confusion and control in equal measure.
Worth noting
Jim Carrey’s performance is the reason to see it. He doesn’t simply imitate Kaufman; he inhabits the rhythms, stubbornness, and strange vulnerability behind the act. The result is funny, uncomfortable, and occasionally moving in a way that feels earned rather than polished.
Bottom line
If you’re looking for a conventional biopic, this may frustrate you. If you’re open to a film that values essence over explanation, it’s a sharp, memorable showcase for one of the most singular comic figures in American entertainment and one of Carrey’s best performances.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Silent J (5★) · 1480 likes
Andy Kaufman isn't dead.
He's alive and well and changed his name to Jim Carrey.
Evan (4.5★) · 486 likes
Going into this I didn't expect this to contain one of the best performances I have ever seen in film. Hats off to you, Mr. Carrey. Today was actually the first day I had even heard of this film and I'm so glad I decided to watch it almost immediately after hearing about it for th first time.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Darren Carver-Balsiger (3.5★) · 470 likes
Rarely is a film improved massively by a single element, but Man on the Moon is one of those films. This is a 5/10 movie with a 10/10 performance. The film itself is a mess, it's scattershot, uneven, and not as inventive as it seemingly thinks it is. But Jim Carrey is amazing.
Carrey's performance is meticulous and precise, his acting makes every moment as enigmatic and as memorable as Kaufman himself. Carrey captures doubts, eccentricities, and beliefs as a… more
matt lynch (3★) · 392 likes
Less a movie than a collection of (excellent) reenactments but at least it ditches a lot of standard biopic structure.