ViewGuide

Created Oct 08, 2013 07:07PM PST • Edited Dec 07, 2019 07:15AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Confessions of a Dangerous Mind got gonged in ‘02. Turns out it’s a great movie, especially for those of us for whom The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game and The Gong Show are pop-cultural touchstones.

   The movie tells the twisted tale of their creator Chuck Barris’s life, as he’d like it known. The game show guy also claims to have been a CIA assassin, a wacky notion just this side of being gong-worthy. So his “unauthorized biography” is part TV tale, part paranoid delusion, part self-aggrandizing media memorial.

   Fortunately, rookie director George Clooney’s film is damn funny and works on multiple levels.

   • Chuck Barris is the only one who claims to have seen Chuck Barris train for the CIA, get handled by the CIA and do wet work for the CIA. A Beautiful Mind type delusions come to mind.
   • Barris represents American cultural imperialism, with The Gong Show an egregious example. The movie conflates that with CIA wet work in foreign countries, i.e., military imperialism. Typically Left Wing, it pictures the CIA as devoid of principle but full of shit certitude.

   Star power in front of the camera includes a signature Sam Rockwell performance as Chuck Barris, crazy jerk/TV producer/assassin, Drew Barrymore as his almost equally crazy girlfriend, George Clooney himself as his CIA handler and Julia Roberts as his occasional wet work partner and fuckbuddy. Wowza!

   Great movie about a goofy guy with a gorgeous cast set against The Gong Show and The Dating Game would be more accurate than Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. No? It’s worth seeking out either way.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Sam Rockwell plays Chuck Barris as not just spastic, but twisted, his inner schlemiel controlling his physical bearing. Rockwell’s first leading role isn’t my fave, but is masterfully played by a master actor.

   Drew Barrymore charms as his daffy girlfriend, while George Clooney and Julia Roberts leaven the otherwise airy story as spooks who draw Barris into the netherworld of assassination. Roberts’ femme fatale is especially impressive.

   Secondary characters are played by big stars future and past: Michael Cera, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rutger Hauer and Richard Kind.

   The Himself/Herself credits are a who’s who of boob tube personalities.

   • Chuck Barris
   • Dick Clark
   • Jaye P. Morgan from The Gong Show
   • Gene Patton, aka Gene Gene The Dancing Machine, from The Gong Show
   • Jim Lange from The Dating Game

   Watch for two notable Dating Show contestants, as seen in the nearby video.

   • Bachelor Brad – Brad Pitt
   • Bachelor Matt – Matt Damon

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Brilliant film by director George Clooney and writer Charlie Kaufman. We knew Kaufman was brilliant. Gorgeous George is a revelation however, demonstrating more than capable direction over a huge production with a lengthy song list.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

    George Clooney made a perfect choice for his Directorial debut with this movie. Hell, Nick Clooney’s son grew up on his Dad’s game show, making him a fellow showbiz creature with Chuck Barris.

12. Play Great 4.0

    Speaking of showbiz, Charlie Kaufman was a brilliant choice to adapt Barris’s book, even if he ended up ballistically pissed-off at Clooney for the offense of Rewriting Without Leave.

    “Bachelor No. 2, if I blew you, what would you sound like?” Now that’s fabulous TV, whoever wrote it.

13. Music Really Great 4.5

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    How sordid is it? Top of titillating, seriously brutal, mostly profane.

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.4

21. Reality

    Glib 1.5

    Left Wing fantasy.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.3

23. Biological Glib 1.1

24. Physical Natural 1.0