Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Close on the heels of his ADAPTATION, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman scores again with CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, based on the (fictional?) autobiography of the same title by Chuck Barris. It's also George Clooney's initial outing as Director.

At the very beginning when the audience sees a bearded and naked Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) standing as if in a trance while a frumpy housekeeper vacuums around him, the viewer suspects that the film will be something special, outrageous, or both. This is the starting point for an extended flashback as Barris recalls his young adulthood, when it seemed everybody but him was having sex, to his successful career as a TV game show creator and low-brow polluter of the American airwaves ("The Dating Game", "The Newlywed Game", "The Gong Show"). Pretty standard stuff except that along the way Barris is seduced by a penchant for violence into a double life as a CIA contract killer, and the schizophrenia brought on by his double life almost proves his undoing.

Rockwell is superb in the leading role, as is Director Clooney, who plays his square-jawed, no-nonsense CIA recruiter and control, Jim Byrd. (Byrd to Barris: "Listen, you're thirty-two years old and you've achieved nothing. Jesus Christ was dead and alive again by thirty-three. Better get cracking.") Drew Barrymore does a swell job as Penny, the on-again, off-again love of Chuck's life, but she's deliciously upstaged by Julia Roberts in a new sort of character for her, that of the seductive and deadly femme fatale spy, Patricia. ("Prove how much you love me, baby. Kill for me. Then I'm all yours".) Brad Pitt and Matt Damon have hilarious two-second cameos on stools. And there's one scene where a Federal official lectures The Dating Game contestants on the dire repercussions of introducing risqué material into their game show appearance that alone is worth the price of admission. I don't know who that actor was, but he deserves an Oscar for a one-minute speech.

This is a movie that perhaps has to be seen twice to be fully appreciated for the deft and clever use of camera perspective, scene and timing changes, and almost-overexposed color, all of which keeps the audience on its toes wondering what's coming next. And the Big Question: who's The Mole?

This is one of the best dark comedies that I've seen in a long while. It's one of the must-see films of 2002/2003. Bravo, bravo!

A movie that combines "Ocean's Eleven" stars and a core storyline from "A Beautiful Mind" with the TV progenitor of Simon Cowell? It seems unlikely, as does much of the book this film's script was based on, yet it all comes together well in a very weird, but hilarious piece of entertainment.

Sam Rockwell is dead-on as game show producer Chuck Barris, who created not only two staples of American television mediocrity (The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game), but also the "American Idol" of the 1970s -- The Gong Show. The only differences between Barris' production and today's "Idol" are that Barris featured ONLY bad wanna-bes, so there were no recording contracts and such offered, and his judges were a lot funnier, as was he. Of course, viewers were different back then, too, in that they didn't know what to make of a show on which struggling "talent" were verbally abused. Today, that's half of Idol's viewership. In any case, Rockwell's portrayal of him is perfect.

Equally good are Drew Barrymore, as Barris' on-again, off-again, on-again love interest, George Clooney as Barris' supposed CIA handler, and fellow assassin Julia Roberts. In fact, Barrymore is considerably better here than in most of her roles. The appearance of Rutger Hauer also made me laugh, especially given the tough guy roles he used to play. And cameos by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are priceless.

As for the "A Beautiful Mind" reference, Barris' assertion that he served as a CIA assassin during that period is so absurd that it immediately made me think of the Russell Crowe/Jennifer Connelly film's delusional spy sequences. It's also fitting considering that the central message of Barris' book is that it is immensely painful to have a brilliant mind in early life, yet end up wasting it on developing cheap fodder like "The Dating Game." (Pretty much the story of American televison in general.)

Don't get me wrong -- this is NOT a movie classic. Still, Barris is such a weird yet bright man that the film is fun throughout. And its depiction of this period of TV-making in America is funny, believable, and all too insightful as to how we ended up with the flood of "reality" and game shows that pollute our TV screens today. The film blames Barris, because he did himself, but it's the networks that pushed and paid for this dreck, and still do.

If you have an absurdist bone in your body, you'll at least get several laughs out of this. Enjoy.

I have to admit, I didn't have high hopes for George Clooney's directorial debut. A film based on the psychotic "autobiography" of washed up television game show producer extrodinaire Chuck Barris, revealing his secret life as a CIA contract agent seemed to be a recipe for disaster. Leave it to Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), sans make-believe twin brother Donald, to create a script so rich with dementia that even Barris himself would be proud. Clooney takes the script and runs with it, and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel (who I insist must be an alias of Soderberg's, considering their stylistic likeness) and Sam Rockwell's Chuck Barris keep up the pace (and utter mahem) quite nicely.

As with all of Kaufman's other screenplays, the audience experiences the rollercoaster of the lead character's psychosis, which Kaufman is truly the master of representing in words. Until Confessions, I don't feel as though any director or cinematographer has truly captured the visuals of Kaufman's mental madness more effectively than Clooney and Sigel. I always thought Terry Gilliam and Kaufman would be a perfect pair considering their similar tendencies toward artist psychosis. Quite possibly because of this, I noticed several similarities between Confessions and Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

This is not a film for the average Clooney fans, since it will probably leave them scratching their heads just like Soderberg's Solaris did. Though, at least Confessions does not feature Clooney's naked rear as the center of its mainstream hype, in fact it lacks any mainstream hype at all. This is true indie, art house quality, with stylistic (bordering on experimental) editing and cinematography. It all seems so fabricated, just like the story, despite its use of documentary interviews (which appear less real than the narrative elements) and found footage.

The Gong Show, Dating Game and Newleywed Show footage bring back all my childhood television memories of growing up in the 1970's. Confessions is obviously a medium for a critique of U.S. television standards, which haven't changed much since the days of Chuck Barris. U.S. television is still obsessed with its working class culture making fools of themselves on television. We've even taken this to a new level of being "entertained" by "real" (usually lower class) people being chased and arrested on prime time television. And who watches this stuff? Generally the same class of people appearing on screen. How sick is that? According to Confessions, we only have Chuck Barris to blame for "lowering the bar." My only criticism is that Confessions is only preaching to the choir. Its art house, intellectual mentality will make it unapproachable and uncomprehendable for the people that really need to watch and learn, the U.S. working class. Even the best of directors have this problem (Soderberg for example, except for Erin Brokavich which did appeal to the working class audience thanks to Julia Roberts) so I don't hold this against Clooney.

Confessions is a movie that would make his past directors, namely Soderberg and the Coen Brothers, proud. Clooney has obviously learned a lot about directing from his acting career, and untilizes everything effectively while creating his own distinct style. Other actors turned directors should watch and learn.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is about Chuck Barris who produced many television shows like "The Newlywed Game," "The Game Game," and "The Dating Game." He also was the host of the very famous "The Gong Show." This movie is based on his memroirs based on the same name. In the book he claims that he worked for the CIA and killed people as a second job. Sam Rockwell plays Chuck Barris in the film. Sam Rockwell wowed me in this movie, and then wowed me in a newer movie "Matchstick Men." What I liked about this movie was that the people who casted it were pitch perfect with Sam Rockwell. He looked just like the pictures of Chuck Barris that I have seen. He also looked different in every scene, something that I found very intesting. The rest of the acting was good. Drew Barrymoore was great as Chuck's girlfriend Penny. Julia Roberts was good with her short role. George Clooney worked in front and behind of the camera as an actor and the director, and I think that his vision of Chuck Barris' story was right on. The most important thing about this movie was that you care for the character of Chuck, and even though you know that he is not going to die on one of his missions, you can still get the thrill of what he feels like on his missions.

The movie begins in 1981 and we meet Chuck who is in a New York hotel suffering from a mental breakdown. Scared of everything he decides to write a book about what he believes to be a useless and wasted life. We flashback to 1955 where he becomes obsessed with television production and he believes that the future is big for TV. He meets the free spirted Penny, while sleeping with her roommate Debbie, and the two become attracted to each other. She also gives him the idea for his first game show "The Dating Game." After making a pilot he meets Jim Byrd who recruits people for the CIA. Barris agrees to becoming a member of the CIA, and decides to make dates on the show to the places where he has to go for his work. He is an assassian and uses the show as the cover for his CIA work. He produces more and more game shows and becomes successful, all while leading his double life. He meets another agent Patricia Watson and a shady guy by the name of Keeler, and becomes attracted to Patricia, while being involved with Penny. Things get much more confusing when it turns out that there is a mole in the CIA, and everybody cannot trust everybody else. Chuck cannot leave either because he knows everything about the organization. Every secret, everybody, and every plan.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is a "true story" that I really can't believe it to be true. Barris really is believable though. Throughout the movies we are treated to interviews with Dick Clarke, the Unknown Comic, and Gene Gene the Dancing Machine from "The Gong Show." They all told the truth about Chucks activities, how he went away for long periods of time, etc. The movie was written by Charlie Kaufman who wrote great movies as "Being John Malkovich," and "Adaptation," and movies that are odd, but entertaining like "Human Nature." The similiar thing about all of his movies are that there is always an added twist. The same goes for "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." Hollywood picked a perfect person to adapt Chuck Barris' story, and I cannot think of anybody that could do it as well as he did.

ENJOY!

Rated R for language, sexual content and violence.

Years ago Chuck Barris wrote a rather astonishing autobiography in which he claimed that not only was he a sex-crazed Hollywood producer, but he also happened to have been an independent contractor (hit man) for the CIA. The project floated around Hollywood for quite a while, until George Clooney assembled a marvelous team to bring it to the screen. Clooney's direction is superb -- he uses interesting, compelling and surprisingly low-tech visuals to augment this remarkable tale and imbue it with a real sense of Barris's subjective POV. He gets top-notch assistance from cinematographer Newton Siegel (Three Kings) and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich). Sam Rockwell gives a magnificent performance as Barris, and the supporting cast is divine -- Drew Barrymore as long-suffering girlfriend Penny, Clooney as Barris's CIA handler and Julia Roberts as a mysterious femme fatale. Brief performances by Rutger Hauer and Maggie Gyllenhall are very funny, and cameos by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are hysterical. The soundtrack is also very good.

DVD extras are exceptionally good -- a commentary track with Clooney and Siegel; a 23-minute behind-the-scenes featurette; 12 deleted scenes with optional commentary; Sam Rockwell's screen test; a featurette on the "real" Chuck Barris featuring Barris and augmented by comments from Jaye P. Morgan, Dick Clark , the Unknown Comic and other past associates; stills; and 5 Gong Show acts. The film can be heard in English or French and subtitled in English.

This is a surreal good time and fine filmmaking, and further establishes Clooney as a power to be reckoned with in H-ville.

George Clooney is a fine actor and he has done excellent work in the past. However, when I heard that Clooney was going to direct, I was a bit apprehensive. There are actors who have done great work as directors (Orson Welles, Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood), yet George Clooney did not strike me as one who would excel as a director. Then along comes Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to convince me otherwise. Working from a screenplay by the always-great Charlie Kaufman (scribe of Adaptation), Clooney has constructed a fabulous film that succeeds in just about every way.

Clooney has the benefit of an intriguing story, based on the book by Gong Show host Chuck Barris, a great script and a fantastic cast. Sam Rockwell is a fine actor, and Confessions is probably his best work to date. Rockwell carries the movie; A daunting task, but he succeeds admirably. He brings humanity and sadness to his character and even makes him somewhat sympathetic. Hopefully he will be getting better and better parts after this one. Drew Barrymore is great as Barris' sort-of girlfriend, Clooney himself appears as the CIA recruiter who's interested in Barris, and Julia Roberts shows up as a fellow operative. George Clooney has learned much from his friend Steven Soderbergh and brings an astute sense of visual style to the film. Clooney really deserves credit for an exceptional filmmaking job.

Whether or not Barris' story is true is really not of concern to me. Even if it's all fiction, then it made for a remarkable story anyway. It will give viewers something to debate after seeing the film. The real Chuck Barris shows up for a cameo at the end, in a very touching and sad moment. Indeed there's a strong element of sadness to the story as Barris realizes what he has been and what he could have been. "I'm doomed to hell" he writes. And not just for being the one responsible for The Gong Show.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was overlooked at the box office when it opened back in January. Perhaps it was the fact that George Clooney and Julia Roberts were only in small parts that kept people away. Or perhaps people were scared away by Charlie Kaufman's name, knowing it would likely be "weird". It's a shame though, because those people missed one of most unique and enjoyable films of the year. It's perhaps not for all tastes, but for those who enjoy quirky films beyond the usual Hollywood dreck, Confessions will be highly enjoyable.

Hopefully with the upcoming DVD release, this wonderful film will find its audience and will be appreciated for years to come.

Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) spent every conscious moment since puberty chasing women -with little success. Then he discovered the newly emerging world of television. This was something he could do. He could put on a show. He understood the public's tastes. And there were available women galore. Barris started out giving tours at a television network, and worked upward from there. He met a free-spirited woman named Penny (Drew Barrymore), whom he later married, through a one-night stand with her roommate. Penny believed in Chuck, encouraged him, and gave him all the independence he could want. Chuck rose to prominence at ABC when his "Newlywed Game" became a hit. He went on to produce "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show", in which he also starred. But Chuck Barris led a double life. Shortly after his success with "The Dating Game", he claims to have been approached by a recruiter for the CIA (George Clooney), who told Chuck that he perfectly fit the "profile" to do contract work for the agency and that his country needed him in its battle against Communism. Chuck agreed to the job. And the CIA trained him as an assassin who would use the cover of escorting "The Dating Game"'s winning couples around the world to carry out his murderous assignments. Or was it all a fiction from the mind of this consummate entertainer?

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is based on Chuck Barris' autobiography of the same name, public records, and hundreds of hours of taped interviews. The film was directed by George Clooney in what is one of the most impressive directorial debuts ever by an actor. Charlie Kaufman, who has made a name for himself writing non-linear films, wrote the screenplay. The constraints imposed by the mostly linear nature of this film bring out the best of Kaufman's abilities, though, and result in his best screenplay yet. Chuck Barris' game shows were precursors to modern reality television and "trash tv". Sam Rockwell brilliantly conveys Barris' simultaneous inferiority and superiority complexes. He made me wonder if some of today's trash tv moguls don't suffer from the same neuroses. George Clooney employs a combination of traditional and heavily stylized techniques to bring Chuck Barris' story to the screen. The film's style gets heavy-handed as the story nears its end, but this seems an appropriate expression of Barris' eventual unraveling. The question that "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" elicits but never answers is: Is it true? Was Chuck Barris really an assassin for the CIA? The idea that we cannot know how much of this story is true and how much is fiction is probably part of the film's appeal. I am inclined to think that Barris' claims are a result of his peculiar combination of intense self-importance and acute self-loathing. But the man always knew how to entertain, and George Clooney has brought Chuck Barris' strange story to the screen with skill and ingenuity.

...What is good about this movie is that it tries hard to be iconoclastic and gritty. And, no question, this is a warts, warts, and more warts portrayal of the money-grubbing, narcissistic creep who brought us such fine entertainments as the Dating Game, the Newlywed Game, and the Gong Show. As our culture sinks lower and lower into the pit of schlock TV, Chuck Barris was nothing if not incomprehensibly boorish before it became a mainstream thing. Remember, he was a sick slickster before Robert Bork fell face down drunk in his yard, before Bill Clinton tickled himself while an intern got to know a cigar, before Survivor and Bachelor and all the horrendous exploitation television that has so captured the American imagination.

The story is a familiar one of materialism and lust leading to physical and emotional self-destruction and despair. And that's part of the problem. Chuck Barris is an awful and unsympathetic human being whose descent into the gutter--we finally see him grizzled and morose at the very end--is anything but appealling. Sam Rockwell is a terrific actor who probably has captured Barris' empty soul, but there's only so much time you want to spend with the man.

Julia Roberts is adequate in her performance (looking quite unattractive in the process), as does George Clooney--who looks like a poor man's Tom Selleck as a mysterious CIA man. And Drew Barrymore mails in the same character she's played in every one of her films.

The sixties and seventies were turbulent times in America: Cuba had fallen to a communist revolution, a Hungarian rebellion had been crushed by Soviet tanks, and the Cold War was at its coldest. The CIA made a desperate gambit, eager to secure a master assassin who would fly under the radar and raise absolutely no suspicicion.

They decided to recruit game-show host Chuck Barris as their Ice Man.

George Clooney marks his directorial debut with a subtle, fast-paced, fancifully shot and whimsically paced bang. Sam Rockwell does a masterful job in portraying reluctant CIA killer and grandmaster game-show host Chuck Barris.

You remember Chuck Barris, right? High-toned, high spirited, pedal-to-the-metal host and writer and developer and uber-brain behind some of American television's most mind-rotting game shows, including "The Newlywed Game", "The Dating Game", and "The Gong Show". Oh, and according to his autobiographical "unauthorized" biography, a CIA assassin.

CIA Assassin?

Absolutely. According to Barris, while he was concocting runaway hits like "The Gong Show", he was serving his country and working with the fight to make the World Safe for Democracy by offing Russian agents and KGB lackeys. "Dating Game" super-sexy trip to West Berlin? Nonsense---it just provided Special Agent Chuck with the opportunity to play a Cold War version of 'whack-a-mole', literally and figuratively.

Clooney has solid directorial chops, and moves the film rapidly from the playful realm of whimsy, where characters are illuminated and shaded by filters and too much lighting, to the cold, grey world of Barris's nightmarish reality, where, as an aging, isolated CIA spook and killer, he's being stalked by operatives, assassins and thugs. Clooney is good in using music, set design, and dialogue to steer the film from the realm of comedy to stark terror in a matter of minutes.

In addition to being masterfully shot and scripted (with cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel, who did the camera work for both X-men movies and "Apt Pupil"), Clooney is adept in moving what begins as a nearly slapstick comedy into a taut, horrific little spy-game where Barris literally fights for his life.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is studded with first-rate actors and first-rate acting: Drew Barrymore plays Penny, Chuck's starry-eyed and long-suffering lover; Julia Roberts shines as mysteriuos secret agent Patricia, who reinvents the term "Man-eater"; Rutger Hauer brings the lustre of "Blade Runner" to his role as a West German assassin and spymaster; and Matt Damon and Brad Pitt are note-perfect as spurned bachelors on "The Dating Game". And best of all, the 'mockumentary' feel of "Confessions" is accentuated by candid appearances from Dick Clarke, Jaye P. Morgan, and even Chuck Barris himself, who provides a grim coda to the festivities.

Clooney is also superb as Barris's CIA handler, and serves as a perfect accent to this psychedelic Cold War chess game. And make no mistake: "Confessions" is hysterically funny, even as this most dangerous game becomes increasingly serious and deadly.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is a stellar, wickedly and consumptively absorbing debut by Clooney, and it's a fine tale well told. True story? Shaggy dog story? With this much style, who cares? Pop this on the DVD hopper, watch out for that guy down the hall in the trenchcoat, and enjoy.

JSG

Nearly a year and a half after seeing this film the day it opened in theaters, I am still scatching my head at why it wasn't a big hit. While I can see it not necessarily being deemed worth of an Oscar in the Academy's eyes, it's still one of the most entertaining, bizarre, and ultimately satsifying films I've seen in quite some time. Furthermore, it was, in my honest opinion, the best picture of 2002.
I suppose a lot of people just didn't get this film. True, the thought of a gameshow pioneer such as the great Chuck Barris moonlighting as CIA assasin seems absolutely ridiculous. So that right there may have turned some people away. Then there are those who just don't think a movie about the life of Barris, be it fact or fiction, would be that entertaining.
Whether the stuff about the CIA is true or not is neither here nor there. If Barris was in fact a CIA hitman, that is quite shocking and amazing...Hey- you never know! If he did in fact make the whole thing up, I think that's equally shocking and amazing and further proves just how insanely talented Barris is (as good as this film is, the book is even 100 times better!).
In the hands of excellent first-time director George Clooney, Barris' "unauthorized autobiography" is a film which greatly mixes various cinematic styles and genres. There is plenty in the plot to keep most interested, whether its Barris' gory escapades with the agency, or his rise and fall in Hollywood.
Clooney has no problem "borrowing" techniques of great directors he's worked with in the past like Joel & Ethan Coen and Steven Soderbergh. He manages, though, to put his own stamp on certain scenes. While many scenes stand out, there is a great montage towards the end of the film where Barris' paranoia is spiraling out of control and he begins to suffer a breakdown on the set of "The Gong Show." In this one scene alone, which is spooky and hilarious at the same time, Clooney proves himself as an excellent director.
Sam Rockwell is absolutely perfect as Barris, capturing the range of emotions he goes through on his thirty year rollercoaster ride in Hollywood. Together with Clooney's direction, Rockwell paints a sympathetic portrait of a paranoid, womanizing loner who struggled with his eventual fame.
Strong support comes from Drew Barrymore as Penny, Barris' long suffering girlfriend and Julia Roberts as a sultry Mata Hari-esque spy.
Onca again, whether half of this movie is true or not is of no consequence. This is an amazing film requires repeated viewing.