The film marks George Clooney's directorial debut, and he does a reasonable job. Overlaying images of Barris' reality as a successful television creator and personality with the cat-and-mouse spy games he was apparently subject to in his other field of employment works to give the film its pulsating pace. Unfortunately, scenes of high action and fun-filled espionage have to fight for screen time with scenes of Barris in his mental decline (illustrated at least one too many times by shots of him standing in the nude), his deluded sexual fantasies and interviews with Barris' contemporaries such as Dick Clark and cast members of "The Gong Show." In addition, the average moviegoer has seen enough manifestations of the obligatory "one-man-can-never- have-too-many-women" sentiment. Clooney would have been wise to leave some of those scenes on the cutting room floor.
Considering the fact that screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation") is responsible for the script, the real surprise of this film is how muddled it is. Kaufman seems to waver between taking Barris seriously and treating him as a pawn of his own delusions of grandeur. These constant fluctuations inevitably leave the viewer confused.
However, this film contains some wonderful moments thanks to its actors' performances. Sam Rockwell ("Charlie's Angels"), as Chuck Barris, does an excellent job of carrying the entire film. Barely a scene goes by without him being featured in some way, and Rockwell manages to give a performance that appears both effortless and interesting. Drew Barrymore is a delight as Penny, Barris' longtime love though, at times she relies too heavily upon her trademark grin and free-spirited charm. Barrymore brings light to this almost underwritten part.
In a role as a seductive secret agent, Julia Roberts uses all her default Julia Roberts moves minus the mile-wide smile. Roberts does not quite come off as seductive; rather, she seems imposing, and wrong for the part. Perhaps Clooney could have used Maggie Gyllenhaal in this role instead of casting her as one of the assistants on "American Bandstand." Though the megawatt celebrity Roberts brings to the film must certainly help ticket sales, it ends up hurting the film because she seems incapable of bringing any originality to the role.
The story follows Chuck Barris as he leaves Philadelphia, determined to make something out of himself. Coming along during the birth of television, he winds up working for NBC, only to lose his job and have to start all over, this time at ABC. In the meantime, he pens a hit song for a pop group, which tops the charts and winds up on "American Bandstand." It is around this time that he is first approached by a CIA agent (played with an annoying drawl by Clooney) and trained to assassinate those opposed to freedom and American democracy-or, as they are frequently referred to, "the bad guys." Barris goes on to create hit game show after hit game show, all the while balancing his television work with CIA assignments that involve killing people in exotic locales. No wonder "The Dating Game" started taking young couples on international vacations. Barris also manages to fall in love with Penny, the one woman who seems to be able to withstand his manic behavior, but he ruins their relationship by continually cheating on her with any woman who will have him, including his leggy fellow agent (Roberts).
The premise sounds fun, and this film has all the right ingredients to have allowed it to become as enjoyable a caper movie as "Ocean's 11." Because of somewhat untidy direction and a jumbled script, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" meanders for too long before finding its focus, which it just barely does. Clooney opens with somewhat serious documentary-style footage of Dick Clark discussing Barris' foibles, and ends with a shot of a disillusioned Barris himself. Somewhere in the middle, Clooney manages to make some magic and a lot of mess.