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Review by Susan Granger
1 star out of 4
Do you remember - in "A Beautiful Mind" - when schizophrenic John Nash Jr. had
the hallucination that he was recruited as a spy for the CIA? This dark comedy
asserts that Chuck Barris was also conscripted during the Cold War - think of "A
Beautiful Mind" on an acid trip. Creator of TV's "The Dating Game," "The
Newlywed Game" and "The Gong Show," Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) re-invents
himself periodically - and, this time, he's enlisted as an independent
contractor by a sinister agent (George Clooney) to participate in secret
cloak-and-dagger assassination missions with a beautiful, if lethal, overseas
operative (Mata Hari-like Julia Roberts). In one, he inventively hides microfilm
in his anus. Of course, none of this is known or even suspected by his longtime
love (ever-giggly Drew Barrymore). Written by Charlie Kaufman ("Being John
Malkovich," "Adaptation"), inspired by Barris' unauthorized autobiography and
directed by George Clooney, it's like a preposterous Hollywood in-joke with
celebrities popping up in goofy, sycophantic cameos. (Marie Bertrand, the
Montreal bartender who was Clooney's on-location squeeze, gets a pivotal scene
playing a bachelorette who unwittingly rejects both Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.)
Barris' real-life contemporaries Dick Clark, Jim Lange and Jaye P. Morgan lend
deceptively authentic commentary to his "downward spiral of debauchery," along
with skilled lighting by cinematographer Newton Thomas Siegel, Stephen
Mirrione's editing and a memorable soundtrack. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1
to 10, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is a cynical, ludicrous, self-indulgent
3. One saving grace: George's late aunt, Rosemary Clooney, warbles "There's No
Business Like Show Business" at its conclusion.
Copyright © 2003 Susan Granger
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