‘Thank You Very Much’ Review: Engaging Doc Showcases Andy Kaufman’s Unique Genius

The comic actor and performance artist's life and work are on full display in director Alex Braverman's latest The post ‘Thank You Very Much’ Review: Engaging Doc Showcases Andy Kaufman’s Unique Genius appeared first on TheWrap.

Mar 28, 2025 - 04:33

‘Thank You Very Much’ Review: Engaging Doc Showcases Andy Kaufman’s Unique Genius

One of the most memorable highlights of “Thank You Very Much,” Alex Braverman’s consistently engaging documentary about comedy legend Andy Kaufman, doesn’t directly involve Kaufman at all.

Well, technically it does — but in the circuitous, convoluted way that only he could design. It’s an audio recording of actor Judd Hirsch, who is so furious he seems ready to explode. His complaint? That a two-bit, no-talent buffoon named Tony Clifton has taken over the set of his 1970s sitcom “Taxi,” which co-starred Kaufman. The fact that Hirsch knows Clifton is one of Kaufman’s alter egos hasn’t remotely mitigated the problem; he’s genuinely angry at Clifton — a guy who doesn’t, in any traditional sense, actually exist.

If there is a moment that distills Kaufman’s unique genius, surely this is it. In other hands, the whole situation would look like a dopey and inexcusably indulgent prank. But he is so fully committed that he’s required everyone else around him to be equally committed, and thus viscerally impacted.

Most of “Thank You Very Much” shows us different versions of Kaufman’s brilliant madness: attempting to read the entirety of “The Great Gatsby” instead of doing the standup routine an outraged audience was expecting; shifting from the childlike persona of an imprecisely foreign introvert to a meticulously outstanding Elvis impersonation; cutting a Carnegie Hall routine short to take everyone out for milk and cookies at a personal cost of — he claimed — $40,000.

Longtime fans will already be aware of all of the above, and may even have seen some of it before. But Braverman’s approach, in which he mostly relies on Kaufman to tell his own story through extensive and deftly edited vintage footage, is the right one.

Other filmmakers might have taken more obvious, misguided routes, attempting to replicate their subject’s style or pulling in all manner of random experts to explain it. Instead, Braverman keeps the circle tight: Andy at the center, with interviews from family, friends and co-workers at the edges. So we hear from musician Laurie Anderson, who served as a pre-planned heckler during his early shows. A typically thoughtful Steve Martin seems to be working out his feelings even today. And an animated Danny DeVito runs through a highly entertaining range of emotions about Kaufman’s antics on and off the “Taxi” set.

Braverman also talks to Kaufman’s collaborator Bob Zmuda and girlfriend Lynne Margulies, who share more personal recollections about his inner life. And no, you won’t come out of the film with any evidence that his tragically early demise — at just 35 — was the ultimate conspiracy planned by a tireless performance artist.

You may, however, find yourself questioning a few unnecessary attempts at deep analysis. The fact that his parents lied to him about his grandfather’s death — asserted here as a singularly defining moment — is sad, but surely an Andy Kaufman is born, not made.

And who was he, really? Someone so complex that no documentary can fully answer that question. But by allowing us to hear directly from him in so many different ways, “Thank You Very Much” comes as close as we’re likely to get.

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