Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Chuck Barris, the host of the infamous Gong Show, wrote a book long ago in which he claims that he moonlighted as a CIA assassin overseas. Yeah, I call shenanigans. Knowing who Chuck is through glimpses of Gong Show reruns, and his apparent addiction to women, he seems like a full-blown sociopath. But man, what a story he tells. Hell, I'd make a movie out of it too if given the chance. Charlie Kaufman is the scribe to this interesting film, and we see a bright portion of his mad genius in quite a few sections of the film. The final scenes of the film really highlight his fantastic surrealism. Yet, the potential of his script gets squashed by it's director, George Clooney. The Hollywood golden-boy's first foray into directing a film, and he makes sure to gussy it up with as many celebrities as he can squeeze in, and an EXTREMELY overexposed image quality. This movie is desperate to be Kaufman, but is forced through the Clooney machine. So what we get, is a great idea, watered down. But out of the many problems the film has, the brightest spot of the whole thing, other than it's great script, is Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris. He gives a nearly flawless portrayal of him. It's scary how uncanny he is to him.