Brad Pitt, David Julian Hirsh, Drew Barrymore

Young, energetic, and focused on a top career in the growing television industry, Chuck Barris finds himself being followed by a suspicious character who quickly lures him into a secretive and dangero...( read more  read more... )us world: that of a CIA operative. While Barris gains notoriety as a dynamic television producer--creating such innovative and popular shows as "The Newlywed Game" and the self-hosted "The Gong Show"--he regularly executes assassinations for the United States government. As ratings rise, Barris incorporates his shows into his secret life: winning couples on "The Dating Game" find themselves shipped off to "fabulous Helsinki" and "romantic West Berlin" for their dream dates--it isn't Paris, but it provides chaperone Barris a cover for his covert missions. As Barris basks in the glamour of his two worlds--entertainment and espionage--his life begins to spiral out of control. He is torn between the woman who loves him and the mysterious woman of his fantasies. He receives mass criticism from the public who accuses him of contaminating the airwaves and he finds himself marked for death by an operative. Barris must regain control of his life. Both of them.

Flixster Users

72% liked it

48,274 ratings

Critics

78% liked it

158 critics

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Directed by: George Clooney

Release Date: December 31, 2002

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DVD Release Date: September 9, 2003

Stats: 1,833 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,833)


  • September 24, 2009
    George Clooney proves he?s more than just a good actor, he?s also a brilliant director.
  • May 31, 2009
    It was really difficult to get through this movie. The characters were almost entirely unlikable and annoying, I kept wanting the leading man to get killed off which inevitably wouldn't happen since it's based on a real person who is alive today. Incidentally I don't buy that thi...( read more)s is a true story at all and think its just the desperate ramblings of someone trying to cling to fame at whatever cost. This was also probably the most annoying I've ever seen Drew Barrymore (which is a pretty incredible feat in and of itself).
  • December 19, 2008
    I really couldn't find anything about this movie that I didn't like. Sam Rockwell is one of my faves, and Clooney, Barrymore and Roberts all do a great job in their roles.

    The story is interesting and intriguing, mostly since it's based on an autobiography but you can't reall...( read more)y tell if any, most or all of it's based on actual events. I mean, was he really a CIA agent? Of course the CIA will deny it either way, but it's fun to think about.

    Hilarious in some parts, intense in others, just a well crafted movie.

    And Brad Pitt's and Matt Damon's cameos were probably the most awesome cameos I've ever seen. Loved it.
  • October 1, 2008
    George Clooney's directing debut, based on the autobiography of a 60s and 70s game show host who also killed for the CIA. Although the movie is interrupted by a few comments of real Chuck Barris' contemporaries there has to be doubt about the validity of his story. The film doesn...( read more)'t care much about that and creates a sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic ride through his career in entertainment and killing, with some really bizarre ideas of humor and imaginative scene changes. Some of Clooney's Ocean's group make amusing cameos and the acting is all around great, merely Drew Barrymore just doesn't seem to fit in. While the film is entertaining and far from boring it still left me a bit unsatisfied, although I can't say what was lacking.
  • September 29, 2008
    Chuck Barris: I'm not killing people... my future's in television.

    A film based on the autobiography of game-show creator-host Chuck Barris, of The Gong Show and the Dating Game to name a few. In this autobiography he details his life in show business as well as his other life a...( read more)s a CIA assassin. Game show host by day, Assassin by night. The truth is still not for certain.

    Sam Rockwell stars as Chuck Barris, in a pitch perfect performance, capturing all the nuances and quirks that make the real Barris.

    Simon Oliver: You are a bloody amateur.
    Chuck Barris: You're a faggot.
    Jim Byrd: Chuck.
    Simon Oliver: Tell me, Mr. Barris, are you in possession of my microfilm?
    Chuck Barris: Yeah, I got it.
    Simon Oliver: Let's have it, then.
    Chuck Barris: It's up my ass, Oliver, why don't you reach on up there and get it?

    The book has been turned into a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman of Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, and Being John Malkkovich fame, and who better to adapt such an offbeat story, filling the film with dark humor and a twisty tone from satire to bleak and philosophical in its own ways.

    Jim Byrd: You're 32 years old, and you've achieved nothing. Jesus Christ was dead and alive again by 33. You better get crackin'.

    Its also a low budget movie from Miramax, directed by George Clooney for his first time in the directors chair, and being low budget, he gives the film a great look using various camera techniques, film saturation, old movie tricks, and long creative takes to get some neatly done scenes.

    [developing his idea for the Gong Show]
    Chuck Barris: We're goin' about this all wrong! We're killing ourselves trying to find good acts. We just book bad ones and kill them! We kill 'em before they're through, as soon as it gets unbearable, we kill them. Dead.

    Also well handled is the incorporation of the actual game show footage into the film and the recreation of certain events as well as the whole look of the various decades portrayed and interviews with various people who know Chuck.

    Patricia: Very good Chuck. I am pleasantly surprised, you're not like the other murderers.

    Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts also star as the two women in Chuck's life that make up a part of him and what he wants to be, and they are both very good in their roles.

    Rutger Hauer and Clooney again show up in small parts as well, and make their scenes and chemistry with Rockwell work very well adding to both the dark tone and dry comedy of the film.

    The way the subject matter of assassin is handled is done so well, putting the viewer in a certain frame of mind that could go either way with if Barris was actually an assassin or not, and how the whole experience was fucking with his mind.

    If there is one gripe, its how dark this film does gets in terms of its dramatic shift after the first hour, but that's a small issue, this is a very entertaining, well written dark comedy, with a great performance form Rockwell and very good directorial effort from Clooney.

    Jim Byrd: He's a bad guy. He's one of the bad guys.
    Chuck Barris: Bad for the US, right, Jim? Not bad in the absolute sense. Just bad for the US.
    Jim Byrd: Don't fuckin' dance with me. Renda's bad for the Tea & Biscuit Company. He's bad for me personally. You work for me. Renda's bad for me... You're now officially a patriotic citizen of the United States of Jim Byrd. There's no backing out now. We let you in on everything. You don't play. You don't leave. You understand that? You don't play... You don't leave.
  • November 17, 2009
    This is a strange film about a strange guy, perfectly portrayed by Sam Rockwell.
  • November 15, 2009
    George Clooney made a mistake by modifying Kaufman's screenplay. It wasn't better than the script but its good.
  • October 1, 2009
    Good movie, not great, I blame the direction; but the ending was ingenious, so the real vs. fiction factor, the real testimonials.
  • September 5, 2009
    true or lie?
    dont care in the end.

    thrilling.
  • September 2, 2009
    a little bit can't understand what the point of the story in this film is...haha

Critic Reviews


January 24, 2003
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It's a smart, stylish, eminently watchable movie that nonetheless feels a little empty at the end. full review

January 24, 2003
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The movie makes a case for itself through sheer oddness and perversity. full review

January 24, 2003
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Maybe the title should have been Confusions of a Dangerous Mind, though the confusion, in this case, can be pretty sublime. full review

January 24, 2003
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Not only intriguing as a story but great to look at, a marriage of bright pop images from the 1960s and 1970s and dark, cold spyscapes that seem to have wandered in from John le Carre. full review

January 20, 2003
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Confessions isn't always coherent, but it's sharply comic and surprisingly touching, so hold the gong. full review

January 17, 2003
David Edelstein, Slate

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind works best as a rollicking trip through the pop culture of the '60s and '70s. full review

January 2, 2003
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Confessions may not be a straightforward bio, nor does it offer much in the way of Barris' motivations, but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture. full review

View more Confessions of a Dangerous Mind reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Trivia


  • This actor directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night, and Good Luck.  Answer »
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