TV producer Chuck Barris has "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" in this 2002 movie directed by George Clooney and starring Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and George Clooney with appearances by Dick Clark, Jaye P. Morgan, Brad Pitt and others. In Barris' writings, he claims that all the time he was developing and producing shows like "The Newlywed Game," "The Dating Game," and "The Gong Show," he was moonlighting as a CIA hit man. He claims to have killed more than 100 people, though in the film he's credited with only 33.
Done partially as a documentary, Barris' TV success is chronicled as is his love life with Penny (Barrymore); things get a little confusing when he gets drafted by the Clooney character and starts killing. Sometimes you're not sure if he's imagining an incident or if it really happened. Which is probably the point - no one knows whether or not these hit-man stories are really true.
The film is rather coldly done and is about an unlikable character, and I have to admit I normally don't do well with this kind of film. Sam Rockwell is great as Barris, however, and Barrymore very effective and sweet as Penny.
I haven't sufficiently researched this story, but there are some amusing things in it, and I would love to know whether or not they're true. One of the ways Barris claims to have been able to carry out these CIA hits is by sending the Dating Game and Newlywed Game winners to the location where the assassination is to take place - I mean, I would love to know if the show really sent people to West Berlin in winter! Also, Penny appears to be a fictional character or his real first wife with a fictional name. I wondered about that.
After you see "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," you'll be doing a lot of wondering.
Done partially as a documentary, Barris' TV success is chronicled as is his love life with Penny (Barrymore); things get a little confusing when he gets drafted by the Clooney character and starts killing. Sometimes you're not sure if he's imagining an incident or if it really happened. Which is probably the point - no one knows whether or not these hit-man stories are really true.
The film is rather coldly done and is about an unlikable character, and I have to admit I normally don't do well with this kind of film. Sam Rockwell is great as Barris, however, and Barrymore very effective and sweet as Penny.
I haven't sufficiently researched this story, but there are some amusing things in it, and I would love to know whether or not they're true. One of the ways Barris claims to have been able to carry out these CIA hits is by sending the Dating Game and Newlywed Game winners to the location where the assassination is to take place - I mean, I would love to know if the show really sent people to West Berlin in winter! Also, Penny appears to be a fictional character or his real first wife with a fictional name. I wondered about that.
After you see "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," you'll be doing a lot of wondering.