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movie review - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is a supposedly autobiographic story about Chuck Barris, the inventor of the "Dating Game" and the "Gong Show". In it, he depicts himself as both the television producer for which he became notorious in the 70's, and a CIA hit man. Not an auspiciously effective hit man, but one with a career that spanned decades and caused quite a body count. The film tells its story in a fairly linear fashion, but is liberally peppered with clips of the people who knew Barris at the time speaking about him and his shadowy life.

The flick is directed by George Clooney, and it seems that Clooney knows what he is doing. The film moves very well, with precious little either unnecessarily filmed or missing. The actors all seem to meld into their characters with great ease. While the lead (Sam Rockwell) and Rutger Hauer display this particularly well, even the usually lame Julia Roberts manages to do it. When I see an entire cast actually acting, I reckon the direction must take part of the credit.

Recommended.