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Man on the Moon

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
Directed by: Milos Forman
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 22, 1999
DVD: May 30, 2000
Running Time: 118 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language and brief sexuality/nudity
Starring Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courney Love, Paul Giamatti, Vincent Schiavelli, Gerry Becker, Jerry Lawler, and Leslie Lyles
Jim Carrey stars as the late Andy Kaufman, who was considered one of the most innovative, eccentric and enigmatic performers of his time. (Universal Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Amadeus: Director's Cut Hair One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ragtime The People vs. Larry Flynt Valmont
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Jim Carrey's performance is an impersonation on the level of genius.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Less a biography than an essay on theatrical illusion and the changing nature of comedy. Love it or hate it, you've never seen anything quite like it.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
Actually moves, whisking the audience on a funny, sad and extraordinary journey through a singularly compelling moment in American pop culture.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Less a conventional biography than a performance film - one that stuns and delights.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
What is most wonderful about Man on the Moon, a very good film, is that it remains true to Kaufman's stubborn vision.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
Just gives us Andy, the pop postmodernist, and permits us to make what we will of him, which is a fascinating activity.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It offers no special insights into its subject, it doesn't connect on any higher level, and it left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied and let down.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Carrey gives an otherworldly, possessed performance as Kaufman.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
A fascinating, sometimes profound curiosity.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
A movie of moments whose ultimate legacy may be to get Carrey out of formula comedies forever.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Carrey's amazing transformation in Man on the Moon does justice to Kaufman's undefinable talents and his peculiar outlook on entertainment.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Strictly texture, a romp over the surfaces of Andy Kaufman's life with not much insight into its core.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Unsuccessfully attempts to fathom Kaufman's lunatic sensibilities, supplying scant psychological insight into what made the outrageous comic tick.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's not that the movie is bad; it's merely uninspired and relatively clueless about Kaufman.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Remains a frustratingly opaque study. There's something missing, namely Kaufman.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Though it suggests intriguing ideas about the nature of performance, humor, ambition, and the consumption of spectacle, the movie only superficially explores them.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Chuck Stephens
The sort of sick humor even Andy Kaufman would have recognized as well beyond the pale.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Forman's decision to stick to the surface is probably, in the end, a wise one. Kaufman always wanted to keep us guessing, and this movie respects his wishes.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
You won't forget the way Carrey transcends mere impersonation to find the roots of Andy's torment.
The New York Times Janet Maslin
What is missing here, though it might have been the first thing expected from an ostensible film biography, is an answer to the simplest question: Who was Andy Kaufman, and how did he get that way?
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
If this movie is a pedestal, it is far too tall and wide for a performer of Kaufman's stature.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Unfortunately for Man on the Moon, Kaufman is definitely a person more interesting to hear about than to experience, an acquired taste few will be tempted to acquire.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
All credit to Carrey, whose one-man performance is almost enough to redeem the movie.
Read Full Review >Film.com John Hartl
Carrey's performance, and Forman's lively attempts to ask serious questions about the nature of comedy, keep it interesting. Certainly it's never dull.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Though Man on the Moon is lost when it comes to Kaufman's inner life and motivations, it offers a detailed account of his career.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Milos Forman's film is a series of incredible simulations that never quite cohere into a movie.
Read Full Review >Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
Regretfully, the beginning of this movie is as good as it ever gets.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
The filmmakers don't even attempt to give Kaufman an inner life.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
I bet that what Carrey saw from inside Kaufman's head would be more illuminating than anything in the movie.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
It would seem the purpose of this movie, if not to deify, is to define -- and in this it fails miserably.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Too conventional to capture Kaufman's insanity and too haphazard, too shapeless, to recapture Kaufman's energy in any meaningful way.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Never comes close to making the case that its subject is worthy of the viewer's interest.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Maxim I. gave it a10:
I'me not a touchy guy, we Russians have lived thru so much thru our history that crying is the last thing we do. But after this movie, i cried. I remember when i first saw it, i was 14. Jim is a genious. He's an amazing comedy player, the greatest the American continent ever new. And as we have seen, he's an amazing drama player. When he combines it, it's cruel. People cant take it. Nothing makes you want to cry more then laugh thru tears, and shurely in the true way he does it. If you want robots with iron heads (empty inside, like those who watch it), dont visit this. Really. The sad end, the amaizing person he played, how cruel a world can be to a man. Great movie.
Mithras gave it a10:
A hilarious movie, regardless of its capture of Kaufman's life. I have never even heard of Kaufman before this film, and while accuracy to historical events / people in any film does add a lot to someone who knows the history, or someone seeking a resource from which to learn about the history, I personally do not believe accuracy should factor in one's opinion of a movie; this is of course to the extent that it does not disgust through blaspheming the character to the point that it could be seen as bad taste. So from a completely separate from previous experience viewpoint, this movie was hilarious and enjoyable through and through.
Erick C gave it a10:
Hats off to jim carrey he really is andy in this movie amazing, breathtaking! a must see!
Katie B. gave it a 10:
Amazing! Incredible! Fantastic! Wonderful! Perfect! Absolutely lovely! Go see this film!!
Pat C. gave it a 5:
I disagree with Hoberman's review. This movie did a fine job attempting to recreate Kaufman's inner life, but I suspect he didn't have one, at least not that I'd find interesting. That's the trouble with most stand-up comedians - they're only interesting when they're working.
Yoon C. gave it a 7:
A faithful tribute to the 'genius' of Andy Kaufman the movie lacks the edginess of Kaufman's humor. It's too gushing an homage to resurrect the spontaneous lunacy of Kaufman. Carrey does a creditable job of impersonation but what's the point of one successful comedian slavishly aping another?
Romanski gave it a 10:
WHAT A WONDERFUL FILM!
