Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)January 27th, 2003
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND is the bizarre type of laughless comedy that only a film critic could admire. Our packed audience was as silent as that at a funeral. A story about Chuck Barris, the creator of numerous bad television game shows including "The Gong Show," it will have audiences eager to ring the gong on it long before its first act is over. It is loosely based on Barris's hallucinogenic memoirs in which he claims to have been both a game show producer and a CIA hit man with 33 kills.
With a high concept story, a script by ADAPTATION's Charlie Kaufman and a killer cast, including Sam Rockwell (GALAXY QUEST) as Barris, George Clooney as Barris's CIA contact, Drew Barrymore as his girlfriend and Julia Roberts as another CIA killer, the movie would seem to be an easy home run for any director. In his directorial debut, Clooney manages to strike out spectacularly, as audience polling numbers have shown. The choppy film appears to have been edited in a blender and shot on video tape that was accidentally left out in the sun. Although both of these "artistic" techniques were clearly intentional, they work against a film that needs all the help that it can get.
The two story lines -- the game shows and the CIA murders -- are both failures, but the game show part at least has promise. Every time they bring up the silly music from one Barris's stupid game shows like "The Newlywed Game" or "The Dating Game," you can't help but get ready to smile. These programs were the forerunners of today's reality TV. Although you may be close to smiling, the smile itself never arrives, much less an actual laugh. And the CIA part is just a weird waste of time.
"I like to think that I bring joy and laughter to millions of people," Barris says is the reason that he does what he does. This movie does neither, even if the vast majority of film critics will lead you to believe otherwise. Save your money for a real comedy, not an ersatz one like this one.
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND runs a long 1:53. It is rated R for "language, sexual content and violence" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
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