Jim Carey, Danny DeVito, Paul Giamatti.
I watched an old episode of Taxi the other night and that got me thinking about Andy Kaufman which made me think of this movie. I wasn't too interested in watching this movie when it came out, but I thought I'd try it now.
It's basically a biography of Andy Kaufman's life. According to the facts on wiki, this pretty much is accurate with just one major flaw. The famous "milk and cookies" event actually happened BEFORE he was diagnosed with cancer while the movie shows it AFTER he finds out about the cancer. Other than shorting a few skits and appearances, everything else was pretty much spot on.
As far as the acting, Jim Carey does a really good job at making you believe that you are watching Andy Kaufman. He does a good job at portraying the "Foreign Man" and "Elvis" as Andy Kaufman. This is probably the most enjoyable thing I've seen him in (although I haven't seen much of his other movies). Carey even won a Golden Globe for his performance. It was nice to see Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Carol Kane, Judd Hirsch and Christopher Lloyd during the "Taxi" scenes. Too bad Tony Danza didn't make an appearance. Obviously Danny DeVito was in the movie, portraying Kaufman's agent, George Shapiro.
The movie is rated R for some nudity and language. Take out that one scene with the prostitutes and a few choice words and this could easily be rated PG-13.
Overall, it wasn't bad. Someone who probably lived through the late 70s, early 80s would probably like it better than I did. Also, Kaufman has a "weird" sense of humor that many people don't get. I don't see myself watching this movie again anytime soon. Curiously, I looked at youtube and the actual scenes of what were redone in the movie are available. Those were neat to see.
I give this a
79.5/100.