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Review: Doc ‘Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond …’ follows Carrey’s deep dive into the mind of Kaufman

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The first thing the documentary “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond — Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton” does is make “Man in the Moon” — Milos Forman’s 1999 film about Andy Kaufman, starring Jim Carrey — a much more interesting movie. Behind the scenes, Carrey had internally expunged himself to channel the late, great, love-to-hate “Taxi” star and comedy disrupter 24/7, including long, crew-menacing stints as Kaufman’s paunchy, guttural lounge-singer boor Clifton.

Carrey’s disappearing act — part challenge, part spiritual hat tip, part need to be taken serious — turned a project already meta-weird with Kaufman colleagues and confidants playing themselves (Judd Hirsch, wrestler Jerry Lawler), into an identity fun house both hilarious as imitation and off-putting as a workplace.

Chris Smith’s terrific and terrifically funny look back is anchored by provocative set footage of the antics, captured by Kaufman’s former girlfriend Lynne Margulies and partner-in-pranking Bob Zmuda, and a wonderfully reflective on-camera interview with a now-rabbinically bearded, Zen-like Carrey. (One of the smartest things Smith does is realize that when he has an interview as honest and illuminating as Carrey’s, he doesn’t need anybody else.)

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Catnip for comedy nerds and psychoanalysts, “Jim & Andy” works as both a vibrant raising-of-the-dead for the crazed, showbiz-piercing genius that was Kaufman — there’s plenty of footage from his performance-art career — and a peek into the mind of a massively talented, box office-busting comedy star at a self-doubting, turbulent time in his life. Whether you believe the two met briefly or not in some cosmic Method-meets-telepathy plane, the documentary is a captivating plunge into that realm of comedy where originality and homage fuse.

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‘Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond …’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica

Streaming: Netflix

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