Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton **** / *****
Directed by: Chris Smith.
Jim Carrey was one of the biggest stars in the world when he made Man on the Moon – Milos Forman’s 1999 biopic about the late comedian t Andy Kaufman. Carrey had a string of huge hits starting in 1994 with Ace Ventura – and going on to include films like The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Liar, Liar – etc. The year before he made Man on the Moon, he made his first drama – Peter Weir’s The Truman Show – which showed his chops outside of comedy – which, of course, never delivers the kind of prestige many want. Man on the Moon seemed to be the culmination of Carrey’s career up until that point – and remains a high water mark for Carey’s career. There have been rumors and stories for years about just how committed Carey was to the role – did he really go to set and insist on everyone calling him Andy – or Tony, on those days he had to play Kaufman’s own alter ego. There is a strange blurring of the lines between Jim and Andy – something Kaufman likely would have loved, since no one could ever tell just how serious he was about anything, what was an act, and what was real.
The new documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond is made up of footage shot by Kaufman’s Lynne Margulies and his partner Bob Zmuda on the set of Man on the Moon – Carrey wanted them instead of a typical “making of, press kit crew”, and a very candid modern day interview with Carrey himself. Tellingly, the movie doesn’t interview anyone else involved – no Forman, or any of Carrey’s co-stars and crew – so in effect, this is still a performance piece for Carrey himself. How much of what we see is an act – how much is real? Did Carrey play it up when he knew the cameras were rolling, or was he really that demanding all the time? Carrey says that Universal didn’t want the footage to come out because they didn’t want people thinking that he was an asshole. They were right to be worried.
I don’t think Carrey is an asshole – and I don’t think the footage on the set shows him being one. I do think it shows the extremes of method acting – something that is at times admired, and at others times mocked (to be fair, if Daniel Day-Lewis needs to go wholly method to deliver performances like Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln – go for it – but is Jared Leto needs to send used condoms to his co-stars to become The Joker is freaking Suicide Squad, it’s not worth it). How much of this all is an act, is something that Carrey is still toying with us in the modern day interview. Perhaps he needed to keep everyone on edge, because that is what Kaufman did as well. He knew what was an act, and what wasn’t – no one else did.
The modern day interview with Carrey is interesting and revealing. Carrey has stepped back from the spotlight in recent years – only occasionally doing lead roles anymore, and even more infrequently in the type of comedies that made him famous in the first place. He is fairly candid in his interview about his process – and his own mental state, which he has struggled with at times. He talks about going up on stage and a Mr. Hyde coming out of him – that’s not Jim up there, that’s someone else entirely. Watching the film, you get to see the connections between Jim Carrey and Andy Kaufman even more than you did before. Part of the issue with Man on the Moon – which is a really good film, but not quite a great one – is that Kaufman remains an enigma throughout that film – it never really gets under his skin, because he worked so hard to keep you on the outside, questioning what is an act and what isn’t. That is precisely what Carrey and Man on the Moon captured so brilliantly – and yet feels somewhat incomplete (to be fair, I haven’t seen Man on the Moon in years – but now I want to). Carrey lets that barrier between performer and person (and audience) down a little bit during the course of this film. He’s still toying with us – sure – but we see at least a part of him. This film is about two comic geniuses, yes, but only one do we really get to know. The other will be a permanent enigma – which is how he always wanted it.
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