Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Directed by George Clooney. Starring Sam Rockwell, George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, J. Todd Anderson, Jerry Weintraub, Rachelle Lefevre, Robert John Burke, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Krista Allen. [R]

Film adaptation of the “unauthorized autobiography” written by Chuck Barris (Rockwell) of “The Dating Game” and “The Gong Show” fame (er, infamy), which purports that the popular producer and game show host moonlighted as a CIA assassin, racking up over thirty kills across his career. Pretty worthless as a biopic, and not just because of the “second job” part, which is never clarified as being either sheer invention or raving delusion; also utterly insincere about its disingenuous subject, obliterating the truth of his documented personal and professional lives. The way it’s all put together has the gleam of gimmicky energy, and Clooney (in his directorial debut) hits the emotional-aesthetic marriages with aplomb—excepting the ominous spiral out of control near the end that has the suffering weight of lead—but the superficiality works better for the humorous aspects than the gloomy ones. Who’d have expected it to be more fun to watch Barris peddle his puerile wares on television broadcasts than play cloak-and-dagger games with the dependable likes of Rutger Hauer? Clooney tinkers with arty visual tricks and atypical camera angles while aping the top-tier filmmakers he’d worked with in the past; it would take one more movie before he found his groove (2005’s Good Night, and Good Luck), but he at least demonstrates courage behind his ambitions. Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman; co-executive produced by Steven Soderbergh. Features appearances from a handful of “talking head” celebrities like Dick Clark and Barris himself; Brad Pitt and Matt Damon cameo as “Dating Game” bachelors.

64/100