Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

2002
R
1h 53m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

93K

YOUR RATING

Sam Rockwell in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

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Dark Comedy True Crime Biography Comedy Crime Drama Romance Thriller

An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.

Director
- George Clooney
Writers
- Chuck Barris
- Charlie Kaufman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

93K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George Clooney
Writers
- Chuck Barris
- Charlie Kaufman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 7 wins & 12 nominations

Trivia
Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore worked for a scale salary of $250,000 as a favor to their friend, director George Clooney. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon did cameos for free.

Goofs
The same extras are used for different scenes. When Chuck is in the cinema you can see the same man as later in the audience with one of Chuck's quiz shows. This is likely deliberate, given the odd humor of the movie.

Quotes
[last lines]
Chuck Barris: I came up with a new game-show idea recently. It's called The Old Game. You got three old guys with loaded guns onstage. They look back at their lives, see who they were, what they accomplished, how close they came to realizing their dreams. The winner is the one who doesn't blow his brains out. He gets a refrigerator.

Connections
Featured in L'âge d'or de la musique de film 1965-1975 (2009)

Soundtracks
Sincerely
Written by Alan Freed / Harvey Fuqua
Performed by The Moonglows
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews291

Review

Featured review

7/10

Clooney Plays a Weird Story Straight Up

What if the creator and host of two of the 1970s biggest and lamest television game shows was also a part-time CIA hitman? That he used The Dating Game and The Gong Show as a cover to stage assassinations in the netherworld of Cold War espionage. Ridiculous you'd say. But that's what exactly what Chuck Barris claims in his autobiography, and Charlie Kaufman accepts carte blanche as the premise for his screenplay. The film plays it straight up as if Barris were telling the truth.

Can Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter, and George Clooney, the director pull it off? Mostly. It is competently acted by Sam Rockwell as Barris, Julia Roberts as a fellow spy, Drew Barrymore as his love interest, and director George Clooney as his CIA recruiter and handler. The bizarre landscape, a marriage of television and espionage, is presented without a smirk or wink. If Barris is telling the truth, this is what it must have been like. It's an interesting idea, and Clooney and Kaufman have taken it and crafted an enjoyable film.