Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Chuck Barris - Author
Charlie Kaufman - Screenwriter
George Clooney - Director//Jim Byrd
Sam Rockwell - Chuck Barris
Drew Barrymore - Penny
Julia Roberts - Patricia Watson

George Clooney and Sam Rockwell in Confessions.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind tells the story of Chuck Barris. This movie is based on the autobiography of his life, which he wrote in 1981. For those of you who don't know, Chuck Barris was the creator and host of game shows such as The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Gong Show, among others. He also killed 33 people while acting as a secret agent for the CIA, or so he claims in his autobiography. The validity of this claim is definitely in question. Then again, how does one go about proving someone was or was not an undercover government agent? Good luck. After watching the film, I hope it was fabricated.

I began watching this movie expecting an oddball, wacky, tongue-in-cheek story. What I got was the story of a very depressed, lonely, paranoid man who never managed to find happiness. The film opens with Barris, naked and dishevelled, holed up in a New York hotel room. The year is 1981 and he is writing a biography of his empty life. The film then takes us back in time to tell his story.

His story begins with Barris as a young boy, perhaps ten years old. It quickly fast forwards through his teens and early twenties. These years were spent unsuccesfully trying to get laid, attempting to "find the right combination of lies" to get women to sleep with him. Chuck Barris has never had love. He does not seek it. He does not want it. He is a lonely man looking for temporary fixes to fill the void he feels. He is trying to get into television, presumably to get money and thus sex. He is eventually approached by Jim Byrd (played by Clooney) who informs him that his personality fits a certain profile and offers him a job with a secret government agency. Shortly after undertaking his first mission, the network buys one of his shows, The Dating Game, and his televsion career takes off. But, as Byrd tells him, you don't just join the CIA and then quit. So it is worked out that the winners on his game shows will win trips, chaperoned by Barris, to locations where Barris has secret missions to carry out. Part of me reacts to this with "What? C'mon! He's the host of The Gong Show! He's not out killing people, give me a break..."

But as unlikely as it sounds, it could be true. And Sam Rockwell plays the role so well that it's believable. He exposes the emotional black hole that Barris lives in, filled with self-loathing. He is a killer. His game shows, while succesful, are slammed by the media and accused of lowering the entertainment standards. The only person who seems to be close to him is Penny. Their relationship begins as purely physical, and Barris is terrified of it becoming anything more. When she begins casually telling him about a dream she had, he interrupts with "C'mon, I didn't wanna do this whole 'dating' thing. I don't wanna have to pretend I give a shit when you're talking to me." She has the unpleasant experience of falling in love with a man who hates himself.

George Clooney's directorial debut is impressive. His job is made easier by the talent that surrounds him, but make no mistake, Clooney has a future as a director if he wishes it so. Rockwell and Barrymore play off of each other very well, and Julia Roberts obviously relishes her role in this film, a far cry from the roles she usually plays. I enjoyed this movie and I reccomend it. None of the things I've said here are meant as a slight against Chuck Barris; This is how the character in the film came across to me. Whether or not he lived filled with sadness and dread I cannot say. I have not read the book that this movie was based upon. I may do that. If anyone reading this knows more of his story than I do, please feel free to comment. This movie is not fun like I thought it would be. It is, however, a better movie than I expected.

3 wombats out of 4.