The Reel Critic

Author: Matthew Clark

In his directorial debut, George Clooney has brought a lonely, lost man's fragmented world seamlessly together in "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." Despite the chaos that is Chuck Barris's (Sam Rockwell) life as a TV producer and CIA hitman, the movie flows with the same smoothness and vitality as "Catch Me If You Can."

The film begins in a dimly lit, somber apartment where Chuck is sitting down to write his "confessions." Stated bluntly, Chuck Barris is a pervert and a nerd. I was repulsed by Barris as a young man. His deeply scratchy voice takes us to his sepia colored childhood, where he attempts to convince a neighborhood girl that he tastes like strawberry. He even eavesdrops on unsuspecting secretaries. Later he cheats on his girlfriend, for he is always avoiding commitment in his search for something better. He then talks us through the colorful world of NBC and ABC - the glories of television.

Early on, Barris writes a semi-hit pop song, "Palisades Park," cashing into the music scene to create a TV show pilot. When his girlfriend Penny (played by Drew Barrymore), asks if it's going to be a "show about monkeys" he answers, "No, its going to be a show about people." It turns out, Barris's creation, first "The Dating Game" and then "The Newlywed Game," is in fact a bit of a monkey show. "The Dating Game" casts obscene bachelors competing for one beautiful blonde who can't even see who she is interviewing. "Joe Millionaire" anyone? Though the shows are wildly successful, they are also wildly sickening, showcasing Americans' tasteless appetite for vulgarity.

What Barris' show lacks in excitement he makes up for as a secret agent hitman. Under the guise of chaperone for "Newlywed" winners, Barris takes up killing Communists and drug lords overseas. On the one hand he is serving a primitive blood lust and on the other he is serving his country. However, it is not obvious that he knows which one it is.

The filtered frosty-blue light of the back streets of West Berlin and sandy yellow tint of Puerto Vallarta remove us from the sharp, bright colors of TV stages and palm trees. Black silhouettes backlit by the brightness of the world make us feel like we are looking at shadows, not real people. It feels like these CIA escapades are just some dream he has concocted. It is as if Barris needs to validate his television creations that mock American society by becoming the ultimate protector of it, a secret agent. We keep waiting for Jim Byrd (Barris's CIA connection played by George Clooney) to melt into the crowd like Russell Crowe's schizophrenic hallucinations in "A Beautiful Mind."

Naked, standing at attention to a television playing the National Anthem, it is clear that killing for the government isn't the best medicine for Barris. Locked in a grungy apartment he is paranoid and delusional. He needs something more or something less. Chuck Barris, just like anyone, is a complex man in a complicated world pretending to live a simple life. Believe them or not, these are his confessions.