Released: 1999
Directed By: Milos Forman
Written By: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Starring: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Jerry Lawler, Courtney Love
Rating: R
Rent or Buy?: BUY
�Hello. My Name is Andy and This Is My Poster"
The story of comedian Andy Kaufman starts back in Great Neck, Long Island. Andy as boy would pretend to perform for television cameras hosting his own talk shows with his lame bits. The story flashes forward to Andy as an adult, failing at comedy clubs. Upon getting some advice, Andy disguises his voice as a foreign man and goes out and tells bizarre jokes. He then dresses up as Elvis Presley and lip-synchs �Blue Suede Shoes� to a big ovation. In the audience, is George Shapiro who meets with Andy. Andy tells him he wants to be the biggest star in the world, but doesn�t know the first thing about being funny. Shapiro then receives a bizarre phone call from a man calling himself �Tony Clifton� saying that Andy is a psychopath. George soon finds out that Tony is actually Andy, playing an evil character.
On the debut of �Saturday Night Live�, Andy again lip-synchs, but to the "Mighty Mouse" theme to a big pop. Shapiro then tells him that ABC wants Andy to star in a new sitcom called �Taxi� to which Andy reluctantly agrees. �Taxi� is immediately a hit, but Andy doesn�t like the work. He performs in front of college kids who just want him to be Latka (from �Taxi.�) Andy responds by reading �The Great Gatsby� to the audience. It doesn�t go over very well.
Tony Clifton is set to make a guest spot on �Taxi� but instead causes a ruckus. Apparently, it�s Andy�s plan to make headlines besides �Taxi.� In a show soon after, Andy and Tony (played by Andy�s writer Bob Zmuda) appear on stage together, making it seem they�re two different people. George is confused by Andy�s tactics and antics.
Andy decides to turn heel on the audience and goes on �The Merv Griffin Show� challenging women to wrestle him. The audience hates him. Soon a bitter feud develops between Andy and real-life wrestler Jerry �The King� Lawler. The two eventually wrestle, with Lawler piledriving Andy, thus breaking his neck. The two appear on �Late Night With David Letterman� where Lawler slaps Andy. Andy responds by going on a curse rant in Dave�s ear,
storming off the set and suing NBC.
Back at �Saturday Night Live�, the audience�s hatred has grown so much, that the audience actually votes Andy off the show forever. Andy�s life begins to fall apart, and then he discovers a cyst on his neck. Andy has lung cancer. However, he soon becomes liked again by putting on a one-man show at Carnagie Hall and taking the entire audience out for milk and cookies.
Andy slowly dies, but flies to the Phillipines to have the cancer removed. Once on the table, he discovers that he, the master of the scam, has been scammed. Andy dies.
My Review:
Before seeing this movie, I had only a vague idea of who Andy Kaufman was. As much as a mystery as the man was, so is the movie. Jim Carrey comes through in a �Truman Show� esque performance as the macabre Kaufman. The movie is well done, but there are some historical goofs along the way. Also in a puzzling segment, David Letterman appears in 1982 as he does today. What�s up with that? Also the entire cast of �Taxi� is seen mourning at Andy�s funeral when almost none originally did. But the technical stuff aside, this is a very entertaining movie that will make you think and could most likely change your perception on Andy Kaufman.
***1/4/4 stars
Hilarious/Memorable Quotes:
Andy Kaufman: Now I would like to do for you the imitations. I�ll start with the Jimmy Carter � the president of the United States. . .Hello. I am Jimmy Carter, the president of the United States.
***
Tony Clifton: Are you Polish?
Bob Zmuda: Yeah.
Tony Clifton: You trying to do some Polish humour?
Bob Zmuda: Uh�
Tony Clifton: SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I do not appreciate the racial slurs! I think them dumb Pollocks have been ridiculed enough!
***
Tony Clifton: How are you? What�s your name?
Bob Zmuda: Bob.
Tony Clifton: Bob? Bob! Bob!! What�s your last name? �Up and Down in the Water?�
***
Andy Kaufman: I am sick of this shit, Lawler. I�m gonna sue you. I�m gonna sue you for everything you�ve got. FUCK YOU! OK? OK, Lawler? FUCK YOU! I know I�m not supposed to use those words on television. I know I�m not supposed to use those words. I�m sorry! I�m sorry! But you, you are a (BLEEP) (BLEEP) (BLEEP) (BLEEP) (throws coffee on Jerry Lawler and runs away)
David Letterman: I think you can use some of those words on television, but what you can�t do is throw coffee.
***
Tony Clifton: SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP! There�s a show goin� on up here! You make another sound, I�ll come down there and put your fricken head in the soup!
***
Tony Clifton: Andy? You guys want to see Andy tonight? Anybody got a flashlight and a couple shovels?