Man On The Moon

MPAA Rating: R

Entertainment: +2

Content: -2

In this bio-drama, Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey), according to his agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito), was either insane or a brilliant comedian. Best known for his role as the foreign mechanic, Latka, on TV's Taxi, Kaufman began as a stand-up comic. Discovery by George leads to the role on TV, but Andy doesn't like the constraints and works to get out of his contract. Kaufman goes on to be famous for wrestling women, starting on the Merv Griffin Show. Then later he gains notoriety for a supposed injury by a professional wrestler, Jerry Lawler (playing himself). Most of Andy's outrageous jokes involve fooling audiences, so when he announces to his friends he has cancer, they don't believe him at first. Although he tries both conventional and unconventional treatments, Kaufman eventually falls to the disease. But one of the characters Andy portrayed, lounge singer Tony Clifton, seems to live on. Although an interesting look behind the scenes and presented by many who knew him, MAN ON THE MOON will mainly attract fans of Kaufman or Carrey.

Although raised in a Jewish family, Kaufman is devoted to Transcendental Meditation. When he contracts cancer, he tries mental imagery suggested by holistic medicine as well as conventional radiation therapy. He also has New Age "crystal" therapy and makes a trip to the Philippines to try "miracle" surgery. Although his funeral is held in a synagogue, it's far from conventional as he provides his own eulogy by film. Seeming almost schizophrenic, mild mannered Andy insults and rages as Tony Clifton. But all of life seems a joke to Andy. His friend and partner takes Andy to a brothel to relax and learns Andy is there often. While in bed with prostitutes, breast nudity included, Andy gets the idea of wrestling women. His first challenger later becomes his live-in girlfriend and refers to his arousal during their wrestling. Although Carrey captures Andy's mannerisms, and those who knew him pay homage to his memory, MAN ON THE MOON is polluted with obscene and profane language, nudity and sexually suggestive elements.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor:
Universal Pictures, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (10) times - Mild 4, moderate 6

Obscene Language: Many (24) times - F-word 10, s-word 8, others 6

Profanity: Several times - Regular 4 (G, JC, Csake), exclamatory once (OMG)

Violence: Several times - moderate (man wrestles women, pro wrestling, show set damaged, bloody

Sex: Implied once (man with prostitutes), referenced few times

Nudity: Breast nudity in one scene; Near Nudity - few times (bikinis, Las Vegas show costumes)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Men go to brothel, man squeezes woman's clothed breast, woman refers to man's arousal, man jokes about sexual research

Drugs: Cigarettes, alcohol

Other: Plastic mucous on man's nose, Transcendental meditation endorsed, crystal therapy and holistic medicine tried,

Running Time: 118 minutes
Intended Audience: Adults & Kaufman fans


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