Sunday, February 11, 2018

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)

Director: Chris Smith

Starring: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Milos Forman, Peter Bonerz, Paul Giamatti, George Shapiro, Judd Hirsch, Carol Kane, Bob Zmuda, Jerry Lawler, Courtney Love

More info: IMDb

Plot: A behind-the-scenes look at how Jim Carrey adopted the persona of idiosyncratic comedian Andy Kaufman on the set of Man on the Moon (1999).



My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Except for the current footage of Carrey sitting in front of the camera reflecting on the making of MAN ON THE MOON (which I still haven't seen) and fielding questions from the director, the rest of the picture is all footage captured during the making of MOON.  I'm luke warm on Carrey.  I dig his work on IN LIVING COLOR but after that he's a mixed bag.  What bugs me about the guy is that he's got a serious case of 'look at me' disease where he feels like he's got to be outrageous in what he says and does.  Maybe that's what his core fans like.  I do not.  This documentary doesn't make him look any better although he is very reserved for much of the film.  It's in the last third where he starts to get into a bunch of nonsense trying to sound all philosophical and other worldly and he comes across as a big bag of gas, a king among contortionists who can shove his head farther up his own ass than anyone else.  He's repulsive when, in '99, he stays in character when Kaufman's relatives (father, siblings, children) show up on the set and he talks to them as Kaufman and refuses to break character.  What a douchebag.  What's worse is these people let him get away with it.  The big takeaway from this film is that it must have been an absolute nightmare for everyone who worked with Jim Carrey on that film.  They deserved combat pay for it and I wouldn't be surprised if anyone developed PTSD.  If you want to see Carrey off the charts fucked up I encourage you to go to YouTube and search for his interview with Norm MacDonald.  I love Norm but he's part of the problem in letting Carrey get away with what he did.

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