Carrey does a great job of recreating Kaufman's stage act, which is so familiar from reruns on television. But the screenplay doesn't explore Kaufman's youth or off stage life enough, and the audience is left without any clues to his motivations. The obvious statement that Kaufman blurred reality and fantasy is not earth shaking news.

Much of the frustration that audiences experienced with Kaufman was that his performances were not really comedy and not really acting. And it seemed that Kaufman valued surprise, whether it delighted, alienated or frustrated audiences. Indeed, Kaufman is best remembered for the structured role in an ensemble cast of the television show "Taxi," in which he was funny and accepted. Yet Kaufman frequently refused to play this character in his stand up performances. Go figure.

There are no clues here to really help us out. One has to presume that Kaufman was always "on" and that he was unwilling or incapable of making the distinction on or off stage. The director, Milos Forman, is attracted to contrarian characters who buck the system, having portrayed Mozart as a punk ("Amadeus"), Larry Flynt as a soapbox for free speech ("The People Vs. Larry Flynt"), or a rogue ("Valmont" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"). This theme of conflict of the individual against the system must justify the individual's contributions as deserving of the attention. But Kaufman is not Mozart, Flynt or Valmont. This is not even Man on the Moon. This is Lost in Space.