Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Released 2002
Stars Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer
Directed by George Clooney

I had not read the autobiography of Chuck Barris when I went to see "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." Well, how many people have? So I made an understandable error. When the movie claimed that the game show creator had moonlighted as a CIA hit man, I thought I was detecting a nudge from the screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman. He is the man who created the portal into John Malkovich's mind in "Being John Malkovich" and gave himself a twin brother in "Adaptation." Now, I thought, the little trickster had juiced up the Barris biopic by making the creator of "The Gong Show" into an assassin. What a card.

I am now better informed. Barris himself claims to have killed 33 times for the CIA. It's in his book. He had the perfect cover: The creator of "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show" would accompany his lucky winners on trips to romantic spots such as Helsinki in midwinter and kill for the CIA while the winners regaled each other with reindeer steaks. Who, after all, would ever suspect him?

Summary from Roger Ebert

This movie's a lot of fun, and it's a pretty impressive directorial debut from George Clooney. It helps that he had a great script from Charlie Kaufman, who did a fabulous job of adapting Chuck Barris' "autobiography." I haven't read the book, but it must be an insane mix of fact and fiction about a despicable man's life. I call him that, because this movie paints an ugly picture of Chuck Barris. He comes across as pathetic, needy, and self-loathing, and I don't think this movie will help his self-esteem.

Chuck desperately wanted to be an important man, but he was only good at creating trashy game shows. Personally, I don't think he should be so hard on himself. His legacy is "The Gong Show," but it made people happy. I remember watching it when I was 10, and it was a fun schlocky show. I wouldn't say it's something to be proud of, but creating a hit show of any kind is something to be proud of. There's a different standard now with the hundreds of cable channels that exist today, but I can see why tv critics reviled his shows. With only three national broadcast channels, the standards were a lot higher than today (I'm not saying the shows were better), and Chuck's shows definitely lowered the standards with its sexual innuendo. His problem was he couldn't accept his success, because he wanted to be Michaelangelo. Well, get in line with the rest of us. --Bill Alward, October 2, 2003