Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
Director: Chris Smith
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 2.0
Actor/comedian Jim Carrey reminisces about his behind-the-scenes antics on the set of Milos Forman's 1999 film Man on the Moon and how he "went into character" as both Andy Kaufman and Kaufman's alter-ego Tony Clifton (who looks like a bloated Elvis with an attitude problem) ... and claims the studio heads suppressed the footage of him tormenting the cast and crew (which turns out to be not entirely factual). While I like how a now-older Jim is able to be philosophical and whatnot about the role of a performer - and how this applies to not only the late Kaufman's 'anti-comedy'/performance art but also himself and his own rise-to-fame (and his adoration for his father) - it also shows Carrey in a mostly unfavorable light, both grandstanding and relentlessly obnoxious (if not totally unprofessional back in the late '90's) ... and, presently, as a melancholy mess trying to make sense of his own past. Some of it is insightful, some of it is boorish, but it does bring to mind a great quote from Gary Oldman: "Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they're clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you."
