Confessions of a Dangerous Mind *** (2003, Sam Rockwell, George Clooney, Julia Roberts) – Classic Movie Review 1240

Chuck Barris has a notable place in American TV history as the Sixties and Seventies deviser and host of The Dating Game (1965–1986), the original US version of Blind Date, and host of The Gong Show (1976–1980). But director George Clooney’s weird, sometimes outrageous 2003 black comedy reveals that, while touring with the game show contestants, Barris was apparently a hitman for the CIA, killing more than 30 people.

George Clooney makes his bold directorial debut and plays a sinister CIA man, but leaves the star role of Chuck Barris to a game Sam Rockwell, who performs him well. With Julia Roberts as a femme fatale, Drew Barrymore as Sam’s girlfriend and Rutger Hauer as an assassin, this impressive, imaginative film is the acting tour de force you’d expect from Clooney. Plus there are cameos from Clooney’s Ocean’s Eleven co-stars Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

The screenplay is by the super-talented Charlie Kaufman, working from the autobiographical book by Chuck Barris. Kaufman also wrote Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Synecdoche, New York (2008).

Also in the cast are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dick Clark, Michelle Sweeney, Chelsea Ceci, Michael Cera, Jennifer Hall, Ilona Elkin, Sean Tucker, Jaye P Morgan, David Hirsh, Jerry Weintraub, Robert John Burke, Emilio Rivera, Carlos Carrasco and Chuck Barris.

Chuck Barris, who hosted The Gong Show and created The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, died on 21 March 2017, aged 87. In his autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (subtitled An Unauthorized Autobiography), he claimed to have worked for the CIA as an assassin during the Sixties and Seventies, a claim which the CIA denied.

Blind Date ran in the UK from 1985 to 2003 with much-loved host Cilla Black (1985–2003). It returns on UK TV in July 2017 with Cilla’s friend Paul O’Grady in charge.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1240

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