Review: 'Man On The Moon' Contains a Career Best Performance by Jim Carrey

Milos Forman's homage/biopic/comedy/tragedy "Man on the Moon" opens, appropriately enough, with a brilliantly oddball sequence that sets the tone for the rest of the film. Andy Kaufman, in a career best performance by Jim Carrey, enters and tells the audience that the film is stupid, and we should all go home. It's a fitting way to introduce a most maddening and enigmatic character that many considered an innovator and iconoclast, and still others found angering and reprehensible.

Who was the real Andy Kaufman? The genius of Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski's screenplay, and Forman's helming, is that they never set out to answer the impossible. What they do is try and capture his bizarre, often off-putting essence. Kaufman was one of the breakout stars of the hit '70s series "Taxi," and yet he hated being on the show. He was such a master at taking a joke too far that when he developed lung cancer at age 35, no one believed him. And his insane wrestling fascination alienated so many people that he was voted off "Saturday Night Live."

But how can you not adore (at least a little) a man who takes his entire Carnegie Hall audience out for milk and cookies?

Forman won the Oscar for his masterpiece "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975, and won a second (arguably less deserved) one for "Amadeus" in 1984. But his later films, like "Ragtime," were more ambitious, and "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996) is a formidable achievement that should have won him a third Oscar, but was marred by a backlash because of the subject matter (Alexander & Karaszewski penned that extraordinary script, as well).

Released in 1999, "Man on the Moon" would be Forman's penultimate feature. It did not do well at the box office (ending a Carrey blitz), but when is monetary success ever synonymous with artistic achievement? Besides a clever script, deft direction, and Carrey literally carrying the film to incredible heights, Forman was able to assemble a host of actors playing themselves, including most of the original "Taxi" cast members (except Tony Danza). Danny DeVito plays George Shapiro, Andy's agent, and an underused, but solid, Courtney Love is his eventual wife, Lynn. (Love was robbed of an Oscar nom for "Flynt.")

Kino Lorber's 4K remaster Blu-ray looks and sounds fabulous, with Anastas Michos' cinematography popping. R.E.M.'s songs get stuck in your head – a good thing.

The extras in this Special Edition rock, beginning with a new commentary by the writers, where they discuss the process and how they created the Kaufman-esque world. In addition, there's a terrific audio file with the duo and Forman about putting together this strange film. A 19-minute "Making of" doc and deleted scenes, as well as two R.E.M. videos, round out the features.

"Man on the Moon" was one of the last films, to date, where Jim Carrey really challenged himself. He did so one more time in 2004, with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Perhaps it had to do with financial failures. Whatever the reason, it's a damn shame, because for a while there, after "The Truman Show," it looked like he was on his way to becoming one of our best actors.

Blu-ray Extras Include:
Brand New 2K Master - Approved and Color Graded by Cinematographer Anastas Michos
� NEW Audio Commentary by Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, Moderated by Film Historian Howard S. Berger
� THIS MIGHT BE A STORY...: Screenwriters Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski in Conversation with Milos Forman (An Excerpt from a Recently Recovered 1999 Micro-Cassette Recording of the Director and Screenwriters of MAN ON THE MOON Discussing the Film and the Craft of the Biopic) (22:01)
� Spotlight on Location: The Making of MAN ON THE MOON (19:01)
� Deleted Scenes (12:00)
� R.E.M. Music Video: Man on the Moon
� R.E.M. Music Video: The Great Beyond
� 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Lossless Stereo
� Theatrical Trailer
� Optional English Subtitles

"Man on the Moon" Special Edition Blu-ray is currently available.