'Confessions' explores TV host's part-time job — hit man

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (Rated R for profanity, nudity, violence) Three Stars (Good) Uneven at times, this film about TV producer Chuck Barris — creator of "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show" — is still a wildly vibrant evocation of its era, with a star-making performance by Sam Rockwell as Barris. Also starring George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts. Directed by George Clooney. Miramax Films, 115 minutes.

It's hard to say whether "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," George Clooney's film based on Barris' "unauthorized autobiography," does him justice. As intriguing as his life has been — and as fantastic as his adventures in the book seem — this film version has a tough time balancing the shifts in tone and adjusting the level of absurdity in this bizarrely vibrant movie.

Adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' 1982 book, the film is a giant flashback of Barris' life, told from the vantage point of the 1981 Barris: burned out and unloved, a whipping boy for all that's wrong with TV — despite being one of the most successful and innovative game-show producers in TV history.

The extended flashback examines Barris' rise as a producer, from working as a low-level executive in network TV to concocting the idea for "The Dating Game," his first hit. He went on to produce dozens of shows, including "The Newlywed Game" and "The Gong Show," which he hosted and which unexpectedly became both a huge hit and Barris' greatest source of shame.

But this movie — like the book — purports to reveal a hidden side of Barris' life: his secret career as an assassin for the CIA. Even as Barris is climbing the network ladder with his shows, he is being called away on assignments to Latin America and Europe to dispose of characters his country has deemed expendable.

It doesn't take Sigmund Freud to see the symbolism of the contrivance. Barris is creating hits for TV and performing hits for his government.

There are many diverting moments and funny lines in the film, though it is a more serious effort than you would expect. Clooney brings a caustic eye to the story, capturing a sense of the unpredictability of Barris' life, on screen and off. It has the look and feel of its era, almost as an homage to a period Clooney regards as one of the most fertile in film history.

Still, "Confessions" rarely plumbs the TV world in the way Barris' book did; ripe for satire, network TV is mostly a backdrop for Barris' eventual collapse. The spy stuff is played for laughs; when it makes the left-turn into serious business, Clooney has trouble staying with it. At other times, it feels like a kind of in-joke.

But "Confessions" soars on the wings of Sam Rockwell's star-making turn as Barris. It's not just that he captures Barris' mannerisms; anyone can do an impersonation. But this young actor — much admired for his work in such indy gems as "Lawn Dogs," "Box of Moonlight" and "Safe Men" — digs deep to discover the sense of a man who thinks he has the world by the tail, only to discover that he can't figure out how to let go without getting killed.

Drew Barrymore is perky and innocuous as the one woman who sticks with Barris, while Julia Roberts brings a droll sexiness to the part of Barris' CIA accomplice. Clooney himself has deadpan charm as Barris' CIA boss.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" has the feeling of the kind of film from the 1970s that Clooney studied before making this movie: loose, adventurous, witty, and occasionally out of control. If you don't know who Rockwell was before seeing it (or Barris, for that matter), you'll walk away with their names indelibly stamped in your memory.

Rated R for profanity, nudity, violence.