Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

While quite very obviously a well crafted lie sold as truth this movie does not fail to entertain and was one of the more underrated films of the year of it's release. A commercial failure the film was re-released later based on word of mouth buzz. This film appeals to a fringe audience that remains just out of reach of mainstream films. What do you expect from a screenplay written by Charlie Kaufmann? This film is a telling of the story of Chuck Barris, creator of various TV shows and all around uncomfortable guy. Barris holds many stations in life, TV producer, songwriter and CIA assassin. The meat of this story is not so much in his occupations but the mental condition and back story of Barris throughout the film. With something lurking just below the surface of an ambiguous nature you aren't certain if you should root for Barris or despise him.

Through various twists and turns you follow what is one half mockumentary and one half spy thriller the film plays it very loose and fast and it let's your mind run wild and free without the burden of tension that a spy thriller would give. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoy strong acting performances mixed with offbeat plots.

Clooney takes what is basically a poor mans "THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE" and makes a very entertaining and watchable film with great acting and stylish but reigned in technique. Finally a someone takes the theory of taking a bad idea and making a fine film and makes good.

"Confessions of a Dangerous MInd' was excellent and I'm surprised it doesn't receive more credit.

The story is an 'autobiographical' tale of TV producer Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) who doubles as a CIA-assassin. The movie is based on the book with the same name and the beauty is that no one knows if Barris made up this story or if the events are true. Regardless of its reality or not, the film is a tremendous example of great movie making.

This is an all-star movie. George Clooney stars as CIA-agent Jim Byrd and also directs the film. He has such a cinematic eye. The scenes in which he incorporates the movie with real- life clips of the game shows is brilliant. The acting is superb with Rockwell delivering what should have been at least a Golden Globe nomination. Also in the movie is Drew Barrymore (delivering one of her better roles), Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, and cameos by Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Maggie Gyllenthaal. The cinematography is superb, and Director of Photography, Newton Thomas Sigel, creates a film with such innovative lighting and tones, and to top it off, the screen play is written by one of Hollywood's best, Charlie Kaufmann (wrote 'Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine).

The movie was shadowy but not dark, humorous but not too light, mysterious but not deceptive and was honestly one of the most original films I've seen in a long time.

The only minor hiccups I had with the movie was 1) inaccuracies with aging characters. Barris was born in 1928, yet the scenes in the late 1970s and early 1980s he looks like he's still in his thirties! At least the movie was consistent in not aging any of the characters; and 2) I felt the pace dragged slightly at times. There were moments when I felt the momentum falter inexplicably and the opener was slightly slow as well.

But those details are very minor and do not take away from the strength of this film. This is an engaging film, one that is intelligent and well-written, one that is acted superbly and crafted with such subtle craftsmanship from the best Hollywood has to offer. Great film! I'm surprised it doesn't get more credit

8 out of 10!

One of Charlie Kaufman's more overlooked and underrated screenplays, 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' may have been something of a departure from the high-concept experimentalism that made his previous brainchildren, 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation' (a masterpiece and a near-masterpiece, respectively) such striking breaths of fresh air, but on no account should its ability to engage and entertain on those strengths of its own be underestimated. Taking a well-earned break from the surreal situations and the complex plotting, Kaufman turned his attention here to a much more straightforward yarn that was better grounded in reality; the twist there being that it was based on a story that, while allegedly true, just as likely never happened. 'Confessions' though is willing to give Chuck Barris the benefit of the doubt in regards to his dubious claims to have been a secret assassin for the CIA in the midst of his days as a game show host, giving life to such controversial classic as 'the Gong Show' and 'the Dating Game' while taking it from a range of human targets around the globe. It sits back and lets the scenario unfold without question – and does so with such considerable spirit and vigour that it's hard not to get lured in and pulled along for the ride. Regardless of whether the real-life Barris truly did have some incredible adventures within his time, or simply an overly-active imagination, this movie translates it into one heck of an enjoyable romp – slick, stylish and entrancing on the surface, and with a bracingly poignant and sobering tale lurking underneath.

Kaufman continues to rule supreme with his flair for developing the most heavily flawed and eccentric of characters, investing them with witty dialogue and sharp situations and, as with his previous screenplays, the humour is a pleasantly mixed bag – lightly amusing at some points, laugh-out-loud hilarious at others, even outright alarming whenever it needs to be. George Clooney's direction, meanwhile, though it stands a fair distance from the eye-seizing zippiness that we're used to seeing Spike Jonze apply to this writer's workings, is still an accomplished visual take on the material, made sensational by its meticulous attention to detail. Indeed, the film's fondness for subtle in-jokes, crafty cameos (some great ones among the Dating Game contestants – absolutely great), background gags and general all-round intricacy is partly what makes it so rewarding and worthy of repeated viewings (I was watching it for what must have been sixth or seventh time last night, and still I found myself picking up a whole range of details that I somehow missed out on the first few times around). Sure, things can move a tad slowly every now and then, but with this number of niceties up there to be marvelled at you know you're never for a second going to be bored.

It also draws a fine contrast between the two separate pursuits that Chuck Barris is called to follow – the game show scenes are colourful, light-hearted fun, the assassin scenes murky and deliciously paranoid, and Sam Rockwell, at the helm as our savvy and hapless main man, has the timing, the energy and the appeal to emerge from the two as both a comic figure and a tragic one. Kicking off as a likable, familiar kind of anti-hero, whose goofy grin and offhand ways have us smiling through the bar fights and the womanising, he gradually evolves into something more enigmatic and sorrowful; a lost, confused individual whose more innocuous contributions to society, in the form of lowbrow 'trash TV', are widely scorned (not that I've ever seen any of the genuine Chuck Barris's shows myself, but it would amaze me if they were really any worse than the kind of mind-numbing reality TV that's enjoyed popularity over the past few years), while the hidden talent he discovers in contract killing begins to understandably repulse him soon enough. One of the most effective things about 'Confessions' is just how deftly it uses its gags and its pathos, along with interview snippets from those who were acquainted with the real-life Barris, which punctuate the story at various points, to reflect upon this man, his life, and just how much he really achieved either way, arriving in the end at quite a biting conclusion. I don't think that any other rendition of 'If I had a Hammer' could feel nearly as sad and haunting as it does here.

Drew Barrymore and Clooney himself offer nice support all the while, each epitomising different ends of the Chuck Barris spectrum – Barrymore, as Chuck's bubbly girlfriend Penny, is a fun-loving innocent; Clooney, as his CIA director, is aptly subtle and mysterious. But neither of them, or anyone else involved for a matter of fact, comes even close to upstaging Rockwell, whose input is simply fantastic – there's no doubt in my mind that the Best Actor Award which, as the blurb on the DVD so proudly states, he picked up at the Berlin International Film Festival for his efforts, was well-and-truly earned.

It's not an innovative, far-out, one-of-a-kind experience (a la 'Being John Malkovich'). But it's an entertaining, well-made and entirely satisfying flick with one particularly brilliant stand-out performance, and that's more than enough to do the job. Kaufman can probably pen avant-garde better than anybody else today, but 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' goes to prove that, when in the right company, he can write 'normal' just as impressively.

Grade: A

Chuck Barris is a man who decides that his future is in television and tries to come up with ideas for new shows to elevate himself up from the position of tour guide. When his show isn't picked up from the pilot, he is approached by Jim Byrd who offers him work with the CIA. When he finds out that this work is basically as an assassin, he still does it and begins to become quite proficient at it. When his show ideas get picked up by the network he continues to kill, using his job as a producer as cover.

Although I missed this at the cinema, I was keen to get this film when it came out on DVD and wasn't disappointed by the film. The tone from the start is darkly comic, becoming increasingly dark and decreasingly comic as it goes along. Supposedly based on a true story this can be enjoyed with little or no knowledge of the characters and TV shows involved - indeed I had never heard of Barris even if I was aware of what UK TV calls Blind Date. I don't know if it makes it a better or worse film for supposedly being true - I enjoyed it even with me treating it like a work of fiction more than anything else.

Not all the plot really worked of course. As it gets darker it begins to lose it's grip and become slightly less entertaining but strangely more watchable. It is at it's best in the first half though. While Barris and Byrd are good characters, some aren't as well used and you get the impression that the script wishes they weren't involved at all, certainly Penny and Patricia were a little confused and what was hinted at was never revealed in terms of who they were.

Rockwell runs the film really well and copes with the comic stuff and the darker stuff. Clooney is quite a good character in a small role but he does better as director. He uses cross cuts really well and has a lot of help from his cinematographer in terms of effective use of lighting and such. Considering this is his debut as director he does a surprisingly assured job and has a good sense of style. Stars clutter the support cast, some in OK roles and some in cameos. Barrymore is OK but I didn't find her character that interesting, Roberts is more interesting but the significance of her character in Barris' life wasn't developed well enough. Hauer is good and Pitt, Damon and Gyllenhaal make fleeting appearances.

Overall this was a very enjoyable film with it's own unique dark tone and comic content. It may not be 100% successful but it is a film more worthy of viewing than most of the stuff that you see on the shelves at your local video store. Not to everyone tastes perhaps (and it didn't make money at the box office) but Rockwell is great, Clooney shows a deft touch as director and the story is both funny and dramatic even if I'm still unsure whether it is true (or semi-true) or not.

Turns out I was in the mood for Confessions of a dangerous mind all along.

Sam Rockwell well is great as Chuck Barris a extremely damaged man. I went into this film blind and was very pleasantly surprised, this is a funny but also kind of depressing biography of a man who like most of us, just didn't know who he was.

Definitely check this one out.