This one is hands down Jim Carrey's (The Majestic) best dramatic performance. He won a Golden Globe® for this picture, but failed to grasp an Academy Awards® nod.

"Man on the Moon" is a very carefully crafted film about the life and odd comical imagination of Andy Kaufman (TV's Taxi). Kaufman is shown as a child, learning songs to perform for her sister and his bedroom wall. Then, the character is instantly on stage at a comedy club, falling on his face.

With a threat to his no money making act, Kaufman adopts a character to begin performing as, simply named "Foreign Man," and a second character on the other end of the spectrum named "Tony Clifton." Clifton becomes known for insulting and belittling audiences.

Eventually, Kaufman gets signed by agent George Shapiro and finds himself on the world premier broadcast of "Saturday Night Live," where he receives much notice for a simple unspoken gag.

Soon, his popularity grows, and ABC television offers Kaufman a part on the TV show "Taxi." Against his own wishes, Kaufman accepts and makes a household named for himself, using his Foreign Man character as the show's Latka character.

Kaufman continues to experiment with Clifton through close friend and writer Bob Zmuda, shocking audiences any chance he gets. This is until he develops a rare form of lung cancer some years after meeting his future wife Lynne Margulies.

The picture examines how one person's ventures into the unknown limits of comedy can eventually make people hate you. In addition, it shows how playing a character too well can ruin your every day life and reputation.

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the team who wrote the biopics "Ed Wood" and "The People Vs Larry Flynt," penned this entertaining script, which not only makes Kaufman's story so much more funny and groundbreaking than it actually was, but it includes several extremely accurate quotes and sequences.

Two-time Academy Award® winning director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) did fantastically well to resemble Kaufman's antics already captured on television, from the highly successful sitcom "Taxi" to his year and a half in professional wrestling against arch nemeses Jerry "The King" Lawler--formerly of the WWE. However, Kaufman's time in wrestling was reduced to a mere few months to keep the film concise.

Jim Carrey stars as Kaufman in a very accurate impression of the man, so near identical, it's scary. Paul Giamatti (Sideways) shows up as friend Zmuda, in a very relaxed and important portrayal.

Courtney Love (People Vs Larry Flynt) plays Lynne fairly well, not a distraction for a performer I'm otherwise not impressed with. Danny DeVito (Get Shorty) stars as Shapiro with a very basic knowledge of the true-life person he was depicting as well.

The cast is one of the film's strongest threads. Writing was laid down by two of the best biopic duos, and directing was by a proven artist and craftsman. I very much enjoyed seeing the cast of the original "Taxi" TV show come back to play themselves representing the show's successful run. The exceptions were Tony Danza (TV's Who's the Boss?) who reputedly didn't not get along with Kaufman at all, and of course, DeVito who was too busy playing Shapiro.

What I also adored about this picture was the amount of cameos by the film's real life based characters. The real George Shapiro plays the club owner who fires Andy in Act One, and the real Bob Zmuda plays the producer of the TV show "Fridays," whom Andy gets in a fist fight with on live TV. If you look really close and know whom to look for, you'll see the real Lynne Margulies singing in the crowd at Kaufman's funeral.

This picture is a delight and very funny. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth your time.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?