Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond was released on Netflix on 11/17/17. It used 100 hours of footage from behind the scenes of Jim Carrey filming Man on the Moon. It was enlightening. 

Normally I’ll use gifs and pictures to draw attention away from what I write because people have small brains. Straight text homey.

Jim Carrey made the news recently for his bits on the red carpet talking about tetrahedrons.  Media said he was on drugs or crazy. Even the first headlines I read that reviewed this documentary read “7 Craziest Moments From The Great Beyond.” Click bait all the way and playing off his fake news driven insanity.

The documentary shows Jim Carrey turning into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon. When Jim got to the set, he was Andy. When he needed to play Tony, he was Tony. When you hear Daniel Day Lewis doesn’t break character, Jim was in character. As you watch the 93 minute film, this distinction starts to become blurred by who is Jim Carrey because the director was unable to speak with Jim. Jim became Andy to the full extent and at one point he talks about having an hour long conversation with Andy Kaufman’s real daughter. This had my mind wandering because how could Jim Carrey, who didn’t know Andy’s daughter, talk about what it was like as Andy, being Jim.

The documentary to me was not as fascinating as Jim Carrey’s life. He has found peace with himself after climbing the ranks of fame by pleasing others. Now he has no ambition and seems genuinely happy. He describes this feeling of easiness when he was playing Andy on that movie set which was a complete shift away from his Hollywood life. That was in 1999 and now 18 years later, you see him looking at life through a lens that most people don’t either 1) are never exposed to think like this 2) don’t want to think like 3) never think.

The last 5 minutes are the most powerful when he makes points like you’re an American. Somebody drew some line and now you’re an American. You were born into a family and decided you are a religion. Your parents gave you a name and that’s who you are. But is that you? Who are you? Are you a person who goes to work every day and puts on the monkey suit because that’s what you are supposed to do? Jim gave an example of his dad failing a job that he didn’t even like doing at 51 years of age. If your going to fail, at least like what your doing.

I took a lot from Jim because you can see he’s spent a lot of time looking at life, the universe, and the great beyond. He’s now comfortable traveling through time as he’s currently doing. What that entails, I have no idea, but I see where it comes from. Just because everyone is doing it doesn’t make it right. Society doesn’t know shit. We make it up at we go along. Get a job. Get married. Have a family. You’re not happy doing that? So what. Society says that makes you happy. Watching Jim Carrey and his trip in this documentary to where he is now is eye opening. I can’t lay my finger on it exactly but I’m glad I watched it. I don’t doubt many people will find it boring because it’s a focus on a person’s life who isn’t theirs. I enjoyed the perspective. Especially at the end when Tony Clifton was getting a standing ovation because it was so weird.