Friday, April 3, 2009

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Day 79 - 3/20/09 - Movie #76

BEFORE: Let's continue with odd Hollywood bio/crime films. This movie is based on Chuck Barris' autobiography, in which he made some outrageous revelations. Sam Rockwell, who's good in any film I see him in, plays Barris.

THE PLOT: The story of a legendary showman's double life - television producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.

AFTER: George Clooney directed this, and appears as Barris' CIA contact - great performances from Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, and Rockwell was fantastic. So, was Barris really a CIA agent, or was he insane, or on drugs? We'll never know for sure, and the movie is intentionally vague - maybe he just liked to disappear, or couldn't handle reality, or just made up cover stories to hide his wild behavior. Either way, it's intriguing, and the movie is well put together. The interviews with Jim Lange and Jaye P. Morgan add some insight - too bad we didn't hear from the man himself.

RATING: 7 out of 10 Amana refrigerators.

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