Viewers leaving "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" are going to be in turmoil over what they have just seen. The film, which was expanded from limited release over the weekend, is a journey through the life and times of Chuck Barris, creator of such TV "gems" as "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show." He also claims to have killed 33 people as an assassin for the CIA.
To say the movie is bizarre is an understatement. What more can one expect from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, whose credits include "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation"? Although Kaufman derived his script from Barris' 1984 "unauthorized autobiography," "Confessions" illuminates little of Barris' enigmatic life.
This isn't due to poor scriptwriting or direction, but because Barris lives in his own private world, or rather, his own private game show. Not that we expect any less from the man who basically created reality television.
The eccentric charm of "Confessions" doesn't end with Kaufman's unique writing. Each of the film's characters exhibits an off-center persona, with Barris (Sam Rockwell) at the center of the intrigue.
During the opening, Barris is in a New York hotel room, naked, disheveled and staring blankly at the television. His story begins in the same place most biographies do: rock bottom. Thinking back on the origins of his ruin, "Confessions" shows how he achieved success as a television producer by creating "The Dating Game" in 1965.
Along the way, he meets Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA operative looking for someone who matches "the profile" of a hired killer. A womanizing presence with little attachment to the individuals around him, it isn't hard to see how Barris fits the bill of an assassin. But Clooney effectively keeps the stranger details of Barris' early life hidden until near the end.
Throughout the film, Barris leads two lives, neither of which is truly worse than the other. He is, in fact, a villain and hero, destroying American minds during the day with mindless drivel and then serving his country by killing dubious Cold War targets at night.
The film stays true to the course of most biographies, cataloguing Barris' rise and fall in both his lives. But no one knows if any of Barris' "other life" was true. After the publication of his autobiography, Barris changed many "facts" about his life in subsequent stories he published. When asked, Barris himself declines to answer questions about his possible role in the CIA
Two of the film's strengths are its actors and George Clooney's direction. Rockwell's deadpan humor especially stands out.
As Penny, Barris' long-time girlfriend, Drew Barrymore portrays a faithful, loving female presence, completely unaware of his CIA activities. Nonetheless, she struggles alongside Barris' eccentricities and infidelities for decades.
In smaller roles are Hollywood heavyweights Clooney and Julia Roberts. As Barris' CIA boss, Clooney lacks the charm here that he usually displays in his other roles. Roberts is Patricia, a fellow spy and subsequent lover to Barris. Roberts appears to use her role as an agent as a chance to have fun, which perfectly fits the atmosphere of the film.
As a director, Clooney also seems suited to the material. He takes the absurdity of Barris's life story and turns it into one dark comedy. Clooney shows a natural talent for behind-the-camera work and stylistically takes cues from both Spike Jonze and Steven Soderbergh (the latter a "Confessions" producer) by avoiding the path of a drab, linear story. If his work in front of the camera ever dries up, Clooney could easily continue as a director.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, a critic for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, compares "Confessions" to "Seinfeld," calling it "a movie about nothing," but that's okay; "nothing" is what Barris feels he has accomplished in his life. Not in a long time has something about nothing wound up being so interesting.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
