Movie of the Week: Jim and Andy

Alexa: I have never seen “Man on the Moon,” and I wasn’t really familiar with Andy Kaufman’s work before watching “Jim & Andy.” But I walked away from the documentary feeling like I knew both Kaufman and Jim Carrey a little bit better. I imagine seeing “Man on the Moon” or at the very least some of Kaufman’s material would make for a more meaningful viewing experience, but I still found “Jim & Andy” compelling. I’m a sucker for behind-the-scenes stuff, and I think during our discussion of “Lost in La Mancha” several of us praised that film for its genuine fly-on-the-wall approach. “Jim & Andy” had a similar feel. It does not sugarcoat at all what a bizarre experience making “Man on the Moon” must have been both for Carrey and everyone around him. Carrey went about as method as you could possibly get playing Kaufman, which allowed him to delve deep into Kaufman’s psyche but understandably contributed to a frustrating experience for everyone else. Milos Forman is a patient man. You can sometimes feel the tension and awkwardness on set, but at the same time it’s pretty fascinating to watch Carrey’s process here, and a captivating psychological study about what giving yourself so completely to a character means for your own sense of identity.

Joel: Let’s take a moment to really look at the idea of method acting. It’s one of the most well known styles of acting, perhaps because the idea behind it can seem so strange when people first hear about it. So you’re in character all the time? Like, all the time? So what if you play someone from the 1800s and you see a car or a cell phone? Do you have to be enthralled by the magic of this future technology? To those who don’t subscribe to method acting, it can seem a bit silly. There’s a popular story where a young Dustin Hoffman sayed up for three days to get into a role only to have his costar, Laurence Olivier ask him “Why don’t you try acting?” It’s a story that gets brought up again and again when people want to criticize the idea of method acting. And, perhaps because of this, those who do subscribe to the idea of method acting feel the need to double down on it as a legitimate acting practice, citing several performances (many of them award winning) that  were achieved through method acting.

Whether you subscribe to the idea of method acting or not, Jim Carrey clearly does (or at least he did for this one role specifically) and it’s interesting to see exactly what he does to try and bring this role to life. It’s adds to the curiosity that the person Carrey was portraying was Andy Kaufman, a man who made his name playing with the line between fiction and reality. This documentary takes a lot of time to really delve into what Jim Carrey was trying to do. It’s as much a study on a style of acting as it is a character study of the specific people who are mentioned. One of the strongest moments in the movie was when Jim, as Andy, got into a shouting match with the actor portraying his father. The idea of exploring and developing a character like that is something that really lends credence to the value of method acting. At the same time, the interactions with Jerry Lawler seem confusing, as Jim Carrey seemed to be acting like Andy Kaufman the persona rather than Andy Kaufman the person. Lawler mentions in the documentary that Andy Kaufman was always polite and respectful to him, at least in their interactions that weren't playing up their feud for the audience. So was Jim Carrey actually successfully channeling Kaufman there or not? It seems odd, especially when Jim Carrey talks about being your character vs. being yourself later in the movie, this time talking about himself and his personal career. This doesn’t show the concept of method acting in the best light as you can question if Carrey was channeling Andy Kaufman properly at all. It’s unlikely that this documentary will sway your views on the idea of method acting in any way if your mind is already made up, because it shows both good and bad aspects of the acting style, but it is interesting to see the whole process unfold. And if your mental image of Jim Carrey is still primarily Ace Ventura, seeing him like this might be the biggest shock of the whole movie for you.

Chris: Man on the Moon was always one of my favorites but it was made during a time when I didn’t pay much attention to behind the scenes drama (to be fair, I was 11) so I had little to no idea about the madness that was this shoot until I heard about this documentary. The skeptic in me wanted to just write this off as a guy who went method but used that as an excuse when he got called out as a jerk on set however getting to actually watch the footage, it’s bizarre. And maybe there was still a little bit of skepticism left while I watched it because I then tried to figure out if Jim was actually channeling Andy Kaufman or was this entire thing Kaufman-like bit that Jim decided to do when when he linked up with Lynne Margulies and Bob Zmuda. I feel more like it was a bit that got out of hand and that’s why it had never seen the light of day for 20 years until things cooled off and Jim could provide context. Regardless of what it was meant to be, the outcome was an underrated performance out of Jim Carrey in a movie that I like to revisit every couple years or so.

Jason: I am not what you would call a “Jim Carrey fanatic”. I like him as an actor and find some of his comedy funny but there is a lot I could do without. I have never seen Man on the Moon and I’m sure I would get more out of this film if I had, but as it is, this has helped me see a different side to the man. He has done more serious work, like Eternal Sunshine and the Truman Show, and to be honest, I like those movies more than any of his comedies but none of his films have really shown just what is going on inside his head like this one.

There is method acting and then there is insanity. Jim really toes the line in his portrayal of comedy legend, Andy Kaufman. His introspection on the time he spent in Kaufman’s shoes nearly twenty years removed really shines a light on how he approaches acting as a whole. It is different and, especially for a bio-drama, scary to let the role completely consume you to a point where you nearly do not exist. But, Carrey addresses this with a simple question: What does it really mean to exist in the first place? Coming from someone who really made his mark on the world by literally talking out of his butt, I think that question is astoundingly poingient. Through this interview, he is able to shine a light not only on Andy Kaufman, not on himself, but on what it means to be an individual. I was not ready to have an existential dilemma tonight but here we are.