Other Titles • Confessions of a Dangerous Mind • Confessions d'un homme dangereux (2003) • Geständnisse - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003)
Synopses for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
1.
Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is the story of a legendary showman's double life - television producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.
(24 votes)
2.
George Clooney makes his directorial debut with this frenetic, visually dazzling black comedy. Based on notorious television producer Chuck Barris' "unauthorized autobiography," Clooney's film reinforces Barris' outlandish claim that he lived a secret life as a hitman for the CIA. Sam Rockwell stars as Barris, a fresh-faced dreamer who moves to New York to find success in television. Pretty soon, he's written a hit song ("Palisades Park"), has shacked up with the ultra-peppy Penny (Drew Barrymore), and has his first successful game show, The Dating Game. But as if that weren't enough excitement, he is soon recruited by CIA Special Agent Jim Byrd (Clooney) to become a hired killer for the federal government. As Barris' subsequent shows (The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show) take off, the conflicted producer uses them as a front for his undercover job, chaperoning winning couples all over the world while performing his deadly duties after hours. Along the way, he meets a shady cast of characters--including a sultry assassin (Julia Roberts)--who threatens to blow his cover and ruin his television career forever. Adapted by the daring and mischievous Charlie Kaufman, Clooney's film features yet another electrifying performance from Rockwell (LAWN DOGS, SAFE MEN).
(24 votes)
3.
The memoirs of game-show creator-host Chuck Barris (the man responsible for The Newlywed Game and The Gong Show) are the inspiration for this sneaky biopic, which not only covers Barris's television career, but also his exploits--unsubstantiated, but also not disproved--as a government assassin. As Barris, Sam Rockwell gives a gutsy, manic-depressive, warts-and-all performance, depicting how Barris cheated repeatedly on his longtime girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore), was recruited into the CIA by a stone-faced agent (George Clooney, who also makes a stylish directorial debut), created some of the most popular yet reviled TV shows of the 1970s and '80s, and had a torrid affair with a mysterious, beautiful operative (Julia Roberts). For a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is pretty straightforward, letting Barris's fevered brain speak for itself. The result manages to be lurid, comic, and oddly philosophical. --Bret Fetzer
(23 votes)
4.
Young, energetic, and focused on a top career in the growing television industry, Chuck Barris finds himself being followed by a suspicious character who quickly lures him into a secretive and dangerous world: that of a CIA operative. While Barris gains notoriety as a dynamic television producer – creating such innovative and popular game shows as “The Newlywed Game” and the self-hosted “The Gong Show” – he regularly executes assassinations for the United States government. As ratings rise, Barris incorporates his shows into his secret life: winning couples on “The Dating Game” find themselves shipped off to “fabulous Helsinki” and “romantic West Berlin” for their dream dates – it isn’t Paris, but it provides chaperone Barris a cover for his covert missions.
As Barris basks in the glamour of his two worlds - entertainment and espionage - his life begins to spiral out of control. He is torn between the woman who loves him and the mysterious woman of his fantasies. He receives mass criticism from the public who accuses him of contaminating the airwaves… and he finds himself marked for death by a traitor operative.
Barris must regain control of his life. Both of them.
(23 votes)
5.
In the cool, witty style of Ocean's Eleven!
George Clooney (Ocean's Eleven), Drew Barrymore (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle) and Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile) star in the comedy thriller that poses an irresistible question: what would happen if a wildly successful TV producer was also a top-secret CIA assassin? While a maverick creator of America's favorite game shows gains notoriety for his smash television hits, he is also drawn into a shadowy world of danger as a covert government operative! But soon his life begins to spiral out of control-both of them! Directed by George Clooney and based on Chuck Barris' cult-classic autobiography, this entertaining hit delivers comedy to keep you laughing...and intrigue to keep you guessing!
(22 votes)
6.
Showbiz autobiographies don't come any stranger than Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a fractured kaleidoscope of film styles--from sitcom to paranoid horror--accompanied by an infectious musical mosaic. It's based on a memoir by Chuck Barris--the mastermind behind The Dating Game (the format we know in the UK as Blind Date) and The Gong Show--which interweaves a fairly straight account of his toils in the television industry with outrageous fictions about his secret life as a CIA hit man. First-time director George Clooney takes Barris' bizarre book and--working with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who similarly mutated the truth in Adaptation--makes an extraordinary picture, with an awards-quality performance from Sam Rockwell as Barris.
Clooney takes the secondary role of Barris' enigmatic boss, and there's sterling work from Drew Barrymore as Barris' ditzy regular girlfriend and Julia Roberts as an espionage dragon lady. It's an acidly witty film that consistently turns the tables on its hero and the audience. Priceless tiny gags include: a silent Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as contestants of The Dating Game and Barris coming up with the idea for a TV quiz show while half-listening to a CIA instructor explaining torture techniques. --Kim Newman
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