Man on the moon (1999) (****)

Genre - Drama

A stunning movie, this is a biopic of Andy Kaufman, the eccentric 'anti-comic' who captured the imagination of American audiences during the late 70's. I must confess I had absolutely no idea who Andy Kaufman was (I thought he was some uncle of Charlie Kaufman the scriptwriter!), but man am I glad that this movie was made- Kaufman simply blew my mind off! Kaufman called himself a song and dance man, and claimed he never told a single joke in his entire life. His performances were famous for shocking the audiences. In fact, he was so good, announcements of his life-taking cancer were not accepted till after he died, and those too grudgingly! Be it his foreign guy routine (he impersonates jimmy carter by saying 'Hi, i am jimmy carter' and throws the audience off-track, and the next minute breaks into a wonderful impersonation of Elvis Presley); or the enigmatic Tony Clifton character which had a seperate identity than his; or the antics on his sitcom Taxi, or the inter-gender wrestling matches- Kaufman was a genius, whose greatness was unfortunately realised only after his death. As for the movie, Jim Carrey is awesome as Andy. Carrey is probably the most versatile actor in Hollywood, second only to Robin Williams. His range as an actor spans wacko roles like in 'The Mask' and 'Ace Ventura' series to 'MOTM' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Carrey infuses the character with a lot of life and reality, and displays just the right amount of innocence and deceit at the same time. The movie might seem a bit slow toward the end, and does end up being a bit vague, but it is nothing short of a masterpiece. It's a perfect tribute to Andy Kaufman. And oh, did i mention- A must watch definitely! :-)