Rating: 
Summary: My favorite movie
Review: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind has been my favorite movie for about 2 years now. When I first watched it, I didint think much of it because I was pretty tired when I decided to check it out. After watching this movie and then watching other movies that have come out, I began to realize none of them could compair to the caliber of the genius behind Confessions. I watched it again (because I bought it before I viewed it, which is a very seldom move on my part) and finally realized how brilliant it truly was. Chuch Barris is my hero and it's because of Sam Rockwell's performance that I know how Chuck really was. I wasint around for Chuck's creations or anything, but Confessions showed my how Chuck was and this movie inspired me to create entertainment for the masses and work at it until I have nothing short of perfection. This movie is HANDS DOWN my all time favorite movie. And this is coming from some one who likes movies like Fight Club, Kill Bill, Collateral, Sideways, and Reservior Dogs. Check this one out, seriously, Chuck Barris is one of the most entertaining and interesting people that will ever live and if you ever like any of his work or wanted to know what he did, watch this movie. Best, Movie, Ever.
Rating: 
Summary: A good effort
Review: Sam Rockwell turns in an excellent performance. I look forward to seeing him in more lead roles. Charlie Kaufman's writing is high-quality, as usual. This film could have been better with sharper direction and editing. Worth a viewing on DVD, especially for fans of the Stephen Soderburgh mafia.
Rating:
Summary: more genius than you think
Review: I dont know where the credit goes, to Charlie Kauffman, George Clooney, or Chuck Barris. This was a brilliant biography portrayed so brilliantly that I dont know what to do with myself. I have seen the movie multiple times and it only gets better.
As a movie in film history, one can see its embrace of the independent film genre and film noir. Cinematography and dialogue with a brilliant story and character make this movie an instant classic.
One might not see how it can be so good. After reading multiple books of Nabokov prior to watching the film, I think I can appreciate it more. Unfortunately just reading random books of his will not do the trick.
A ridiculous amount of parallels can be found between Confessions and one of Nabokov's most veteran works, Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle.
Both are autobiographies (Nabokov's is fictional of course), both have the same general tense, dark, intellectual mood, and most importantly both refer to creating something new (TV shows in this movie and books in Ada or Ardor) as child rearing. I am sure there are more but these are all I can remember besides direct quotes and references to Nabokov.
Hopefully this will enlighten some people on how deep this film really goes. I see it almost as paying homage to an author the way he would like it. indirectly :)
Rating: 
Summary: International Man of Mystery, or--Spy v. Spy v. Gong
Review: The sixties and seventies were turbulent times in America: Cuba had fallen to a communist revolution, a Hungarian rebellion had been crushed by Soviet tanks, and the Cold War was at its coldest. The CIA made a desperate gambit, eager to secure a master assassin who would fly under the radar and raise absolutely no suspicicion.
They decided to recruit game-show host Chuck Barris as their Ice Man.
George Clooney marks his directorial debut with a subtle, fast-paced, fancifully shot and whimsically paced bang. Sam Rockwell does a masterful job in portraying reluctant CIA killer and grandmaster game-show host Chuck Barris.
You remember Chuck Barris, right? High-toned, high spirited, pedal-to-the-metal host and writer and developer and uber-brain behind some of American television's most mind-rotting game shows, including "The Newlywed Game", "The Dating Game", and "The Gong Show". Oh, and according to his autobiographical "unauthorized" biography, a CIA assassin.
CIA Assassin?
Absolutely. According to Barris, while he was concocting runaway hits like "The Gong Show", he was serving his country and working with the fight to make the World Safe for Democracy by offing Russian agents and KGB lackeys. "Dating Game" super-sexy trip to West Berlin? Nonsense---it just provided Special Agent Chuck with the opportunity to play a Cold War version of 'whack-a-mole', literally and figuratively.
Clooney has solid directorial chops, and moves the film rapidly from the playful realm of whimsy, where characters are illuminated and shaded by filters and too much lighting, to the cold, grey world of Barris's nightmarish reality, where, as an aging, isolated CIA spook and killer, he's being stalked by operatives, assassins and thugs. Clooney is good in using music, set design, and dialogue to steer the film from the realm of comedy to stark terror in a matter of minutes.
In addition to being masterfully shot and scripted (with cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel, who did the camera work for both X-men movies and "Apt Pupil"), Clooney is adept in moving what begins as a nearly slapstick comedy into a taut, horrific little spy-game where Barris literally fights for his life.
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is studded with first-rate actors and first-rate acting: Drew Barrymore plays Penny, Chuck's starry-eyed and long-suffering lover; Julia Roberts shines as mysteriuos secret agent Patricia, who reinvents the term "Man-eater"; Rutger Hauer brings the lustre of "Blade Runner" to his role as a West German assassin and spymaster; and Matt Damon and Brad Pitt are note-perfect as spurned bachelors on "The Dating Game". And best of all, the 'mockumentary' feel of "Confessions" is accentuated by candid appearances from Dick Clarke, Jaye P. Morgan, and even Chuck Barris himself, who provides a grim coda to the festivities.
Clooney is also superb as Barris's CIA handler, and serves as a perfect accent to this psychedelic Cold War chess game. And make no mistake: "Confessions" is hysterically funny, even as this most dangerous game becomes increasingly serious and deadly.
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is a stellar, wickedly and consumptively absorbing debut by Clooney, and it's a fine tale well told. True story? Shaggy dog story? With this much style, who cares? Pop this on the DVD hopper, watch out for that guy down the hall in the trenchcoat, and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Inexplicably fascinating...
Review: I usually dislike the steady-downward-slide school of drama ("King Lear," "Breaking the Waves," etc.) but there is so much that is startlingly original and strangely beautiful in this movie that I really didn't mind. The characters, the situations, the setting and cinematography and dialogue---somehow all these elements work together flawlessly and zooooooom away we go, where to nobody knows. So it came as no surprise to find out that yes, this was a Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation") screenplay---he is a flat-out genius, though this movie is actually less far-out than his other work.
Going in, I had no idea that Barris was a real person, and that he really did claim to be a CIA assassin whenever he wasn't making cheesy TV shows. Instead I assumed it was another "artiste slowly turns into paranoid schizophrenic while doing lots of work" films somewhat like "Naked Lunch."
Definitely worth seeing, maybe more than once, though the last third does tend to drag a bit...
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre biography
Review: Sam Rockwell is amazingly authentic in his portrayal of Gong Show guru, TV game show producer and purported CIA assassin Chuck Barris. George Clooney does a commendable directing job in recreating Barris' theater of the absurd lifestyle. He also plays a buttoned down and cryptic CIA recruiter who ushers Rockwell through his secret life as a spy.
Drew Barrymore is effective in playing Barris' significant other and eventual wife Penny. Although very flaky she provides Barris with a beacon of normalcy in his tumultous and philandering existence. Julia Roberts has a minor role playing Rockwell's espionage contact and occasional love interest.
The movie studded with quotes from actual players in Barris life such as Gong Show regulars Jaye P. Morgan, Gene Gene "The Dancing Machine" and the Unknown Comic. The flick disturbingly concludes with a somber diatribe from Barris himself that reveals the unfulfillment Barris' life had become.
Rating:
Summary: By George he's done it - Not.
Review: George Clooney can file this one under wasted opportunity. Good idea, poor execution.Based on the semi-autobiographical book of the same name, "Confessions" follows the life of wacky television producer Chuck Barris. We have Barris to thank for television programmes such as The Gong Show and The Dating Game (i.e. lowest common denominator television that proves that you should never underestimate the taste of the American public). But, at least according to Barris, not only was he an oddball television guy, he was also a CIA assassin who killed enemies of the state for the US government. Hmmmmm. Well it is certainly an outrageous claim and therein lies the seeds of a good movie. Whether or not Barris' claims of a secret life are actually true doesn't really matter for the story. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was mad (think A Beautiful Mind), maybe he was making it up - who knows. But who really cares either. What you have here is GOOD MATERIAL and a good opportunity to make a genuinely original movie. Unfortunately, on his directorial debut, Clooney doesn't pull it all together and what we are left with is a rather forgettable film. A lot of the problem is the uneven pace of the film. Clooney spends too long trying to have us understand why Bariss is the way he is (a self-involved idiot whose personal relationships are as shallow as his television programmes). And then when we get to the GOOD MATERIAL (the television shows and the covert operations) the pace is too quick. Instead of focusing on what could have made this interesting he focuses on the familiar and the tedious. Is it any real surprise that a television producer is sleazy, drunk and shallow? The casting is interesting but perhaps what you might expect from Clooney. Julia Roberts plays a spy (doesn't quite work), Drew Barrimore plays the long suffering love interest (does work), Clooney plays the CIA handler (unemotional and wooden) and Sam Rockwell plays Barris himself (believable idiot). I'm also sure I saw a cameo from a non-speaking Brad Pitt as a contestant in The Dating Game. It's not an absolute lemon because the key people do have talent. But it is a wasted opportunity to make something original and new.
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