Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Sadly Over-hyped

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Chuck Barris is a successful TV producer and presenter. Behind this façade lurks a secret - he is a CIA assassin.George Clooney's directorial debut, and it's a great one. (Also worth noting that the screenplay was written by Charlie Kaufman, of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation fame). Excellent movie, mixing humour and drama. Plot is superb - you're kept guessing at what is real and what is not, and where it all will lead. The movie, however, is made by the acting of Sam Rockwell. His performance is mind-blowingly brilliant.

As I was watching this expecting not too much and a bit distracted I was wondering vaguely how this managed to get such a good cast. Surprisingly the movie surprised. This a fine example of the "hit man" genre infused with comedy. Yes, they made yet another hit man movie…I mean let's glorify the poor bast…guys. So, so Hollywood. I actually Googled "hit man movies" and I was really, really surprised at how many there have been. I've seen maybe a half dozen, and if I feel like making the effort I'll look them up and make a list.But this movie creates another genre: the hit man comedy. "Leon: The Professional" (1994) and "Panic" (2000) gave us the hit man we can identify with and empathize with while experiencing a little satirical intent along the way. But this expands the possibilities. I mean the hit man is Chuck Barris (oh, boy) of "The Gong Show" fame and infamy played by Sam Rockwell as the heroic flawed hero. (Story based on Barris's own book. Ha!) And how did the director get such a great cast? I mean George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and Sam Rockwell. Answer: George Clooney directed a script by Charlie Kaufman. Yes, Clooney was the director and did an outstanding job; and yes, Charlie Kaufman is the author of screenplays for such cutting edge and entirely original films as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) and "Being John Malkovich" (1999).So yes I would be persuaded to take a role and not worry about the box office. BTW there are some interesting cameos including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as The Dating Game contestants. They appear almost as sight jokes.--Dennis Littrell, author of the movie review book, "Cut to the Chaise Lounge, or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote"

First of all, I would like to mention my reluctance to watch movies directed by famous celebrities. Often times, when one directs a film, the entire story and format of the movie is pretentious and seems to be something to expand the actor's "talent". This one seemed to start off that way, until the true story began to unfold a little ways into the movie. At first I didn't know this was written by Charlie Kaufman until the time the story lifts off, too. Once you learn that the main character, played so well by Sam Rockwell, is trying to change his life for something more successful you see all the elements of a Kaufman script come into frame with some unique frames and angles. The story of Chuck Barris, be it all the way factual or not, is extremely entertaining and the way this film plays out you really get to know who this man is... or his character as it's meant to be seen at the least. I love everything about this film from the twisted, Kaufman humor to the fall from comedy to insanity and even the extreme length for a story that could've been told a lot quicker, but this was a solid script. It worked at it's length and a part of me wishes it was longer, because it's such a different movie. If you're tired of the same movie of blockbuster actions flicks or the common love story, this is definitely a movie to see.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)Like the better known George Clooney directed film, Good Night, and Good Luck, this one is about the early days of television. But the similarity ends there. Filmed in color, with a second story about the CIA, and sometimes inventive filming moving from one space to another freely, or showing fantasies that get confused with the truth. Confessions almost feels like a crazy dream. And a good one, an interesting tour of a man's off-kilter mind finding escapes in brilliant flashes of success. And the writing is by the great Charlie Kaufman, which is reason enough to get involved.The period is great (1960s and 70s), laced with the Cold War and peripheral drug use, and lots of bright colors. "The Dating Game" gets started on hippy-esquire t.v. sets and then suddenly we see a gruesome assassination, making for a wild ride. And there is a star-studded cast, with Julia Roberts prominent and Brad Pitt and Matt Damon definitely not prominent (but their two seconds making maybe the best single moment in the movie). The intrigue compounds when our leading man, a very non-fictional Chuck Barris, becomes a target himself.The lead, Sam Rockwell, has the problem for me of not creating a sympathetic character, so when things go wrong, and even when things go right, he seems like a jerk, and I couldn't quite get absorbed in it. Instead, everything just "happens." But such things! Could they be true? The movie is based on Barris's autobiography of the same name, and yet the CIA denies Barris had anything to do with them. Good stuff for a surreal, bouncy movie, anyway. No strait jacket required.