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

Few things get me more emotional than Andy Kaufman. Even hearing a few words of R.E.M.'s "Man on the Moon" makes my eyes well up. I remember watching his early appearances live on Saturday Night Live and the night he got into a fist fight on Fridays. And while I was alive for his descent into pro wrestling mania and his battle with cancer, I don't remember much of the end. Maybe I didn't want to process it. Maybe that's why I believed — to this day — that Andy is just waiting to pull the curtain back on all of us and come back. And maybe not coming back? Perhaps that's his best trick of all.

Conversely, I've never liked Jim Carrey. Unlike Andy, who undermined his own popularity and resisted the mainstream while simultaneously making a living from it, he seemed too eager to please. Too happy to take and take from the blockbuster machine, to be in works that didn't challenge him. That's why The Cable Guy surprised me. Here as the buffoon who mugged his way through Dumb and Dumber forcing viewers to contemplate the pain behind the character. He followed that movie with later challenging films like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The Jim Carrey that appears here is not the rubber-faced maniac who seemed to cry out, "Watch me! Love me!" This is a graying, faded, bearded, rougher man who has been through no small degree of personal loss and pain. And this is also a man who willingly gave his identity over to not just Andy Kaufman, but to Andy's more frightening side, the villainous Tony Clifton.

In a recent Newsweek article, Kaufman's sister gives some insight: "I think that Jim Carrey was a vessel," she said. " I do believe he allowed Andy to come through him. I also chose to believe that Andy was coming through him. When he looked at me, I'm not kidding. It was like speaking to Andy from the great beyond. I felt like he was coming through as the evolved, astral Andy."

I've watched Milos Forman's Man on the Moon numerous times. And I've read plenty of books, digested plenty of articles and watched every appearance Andy did on TV. I look to him in the way that I extend to few performers: he's more of a truth-speaking prophet than just a person. Do I give him too much credit? Do I see things in him, do I project magic that he wasn't able to perform? I think — I fervently believe — that he was something more. A force. Someone who was able to push buttons, upset people and be a real-life wrestling heel while at the same time delivering childlike moments of whimsy and wonder. Just the footage of him inviting everyone to join him for milk and cookies after his Carnegie Hall performance makes me weep openly. It feels too real, too loving, too honest and much too true.

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After seeing Jim Carrey out of the spotlight for a while, but then recently back in the news with what could be described as "odd" behavior, I was curious as to what this movie would deliver. I was not disappointed. I have always been an admirer of Carrey's work, beginning with my introduction to his comedy on the sketch comedy show In Living Color. This movie/behind the scenes look at Carrey's acting focuses on how Jim essentially "became" Andy Kauffman for his role in Man on the Moon. This is a documentary not only about taking on the mindset and mannerisms of another person, but so much more. It helps explain who Jim Carrey has become... and it is brilliant. Most audiences are used to seeing Jim Carrey being over-the-top, but in this doc Jim shares with the viewer a very intimate piece of himself, which could shed light on most viewers perception of reality. I certainly look at life a little differently now after viewing this. I also have a better understanding of who Jim Carrey is as well. Jim becoming Andy changes how he views life, and as he profoundly says "the choices make you." This documentary was the best and realest thing I have seen in years.

Andy is Tony or is he Jim , or is it Jim is Andy or Tony , or is Bob Tony? wonderful overview of the making of Man in the Moon the biopic of Andy Kaufman. Featuring Jim Carey talking though the psychological damage that various characters and the actor profession have done when taking on various roles. Riveting

First of all, when I saw Chris Smith was directing this documentary, I knew it would be good. American Movie is one of the best documentaries of all time in my opinion. My hats off to Chris Smith. That being said, this is a must see documentary, it's transcendental on all levels or perhaps it's just normal and the way it should be and is on the human level, but we're all living in such a backwards world that we see transcending as related to a spiritual or a non physical realm, but perhaps transcendental is just normal, the way it should be.

In this documentary one gets to see the process Jim Carrey went through to be Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton and one also gets to see where Jim Carrey is now, which is a perfect term as he is very much in the now. Jim Carrey is almost an Eckhart Tolle at this point in his life. He just is. One could say that's easy for Carrey as he's got all the money in the world, but the truth is he's seen both sides of the coin i.e. having all the money in the world and being homeless, so he's a good judge of what it is to be happy and at peace in my opinion. Carrey has found his true self and happiness in just being.

This documentary gives the viewer the perspective of what a remarkable actor Jim Carrey is and also what a thought provoking human being and poet he is too. Jim Carrey says in this documentary 'free of concern.' What a wild and lovely concept. Free of concern. Obviously we all have doubts, concerns and worries i.e. about our loved ones i.e. family, friends, sister, brother, kids, dogs, etc. But past that to be truly free of fear, what a wonderful concept and I believe Carrey is truly free of all of it. How liberating.

A documentary well worth the watch to see how deep an actor will and can go, and also to see how beautiful a human being Carrey is within all his flaws and imperfections. Please watch this documentary, you will fall in love with your life, with life, with Carrey and the creation of being all over again. A truly moving piece of art. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you think.

As impressive as Jim Carrey's immersion of himself into Andy Kaufman was, the real star of this show to me was his own philosophizing over the stages of his life, and the segments we see of his career. On top of all his other talents, Carrey is one thoughtful, profound guy. It ties in beautifully though - Kaufman, a performer who always seemed be putting on an act and doing weird, absurd things, and Carrey, method acting as the guy who put on act, taking on a pro wrestler who also regularly put on act. It all blurs together, causing us to question the nature of things, e.g. what's real and what's entertainment, maybe showing how Kaufman broke a few barriers in that way. I would have loved to have seen even more of Jim Carrey and less of Tony Clifton, an annoying character who reminded me of a takeoff on Jerry Lewis's Buddy Love, and in any event, not all that pleasant. Still though, this is quite a thought-provoking documentary, and one to check out.

Quote, Jim Carrey on The Truman Show and real life: "I've stepped through the door, and the door is the realization that this, us, is Seaside. It's the dome, this is the dome. This isn't real. This is a story. There is the avatar you create, and the cadence you come up with, that is pleasing to people, and takes them away from their issues, and it makes you popular, and then at some point you have to peel it away. And, you know, it's not who you are. At some point you have to live, you know, your true man. You know Truman Show really became a prophecy for me. It is constantly reaffirming itself as a teaching almost, as a real representation of what I've gone through in my career, and what everyone goes through when they create themselves, you know, to be popular or successful. And it's not just show business. It's Wall Street, it's anywhere. You go to the office and you put a monkey suit on, and you act a certain way, say a certain thing, and lie through your teeth at times, and you do whatever you need to do to look like a winner, you know. And at some point of your life, you have to go, I don't care what it looks like. You know, I found the hole in the psyche and I'm going through, and I'm going to face the abyss of not knowing whether that's going to be okay with everybody or not, you know. And at times, just like the movie, they try to drown you in the middle of that abyss. They go, 'No, be the other guy. You told us you were this guy. You told us you were Andy. You told us you were Tony Clifton.' You know, no one can live with that forever."