 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) Charlie Kaufman (writer of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) reins in the arbitrary bizarreness and presents a remarkably coherent take on Barris's wild tale of TV and killing for hire. No matter whether you choose to believe any of it is bunk or not, you end up caring about the characters, and more or less rooting for this sad guy in all of his darkness. Barris is as ambiguous a hero as you can get, but the plot plays out with a good deal of heart. Familiar touchstones ("The Dating Game," "The Newlywed Game," "The Gong Show") are turned on their ear and reinterpreted in the context of shadowy government operations. Barris comes off as more than the lovable scrub drunkenly rambling his way through humanity's weak side, but as a could-be genius whose misanthropy finds its potential in two seemingly incongruous spheres. Can someone have been the host of "The Gong Show" and also a government assassin? Can someone this emotionally void be redeemed? Lots of food for thought here. No real missteps, though the spy plot goes on a bit long, and Julia Roberts doesn't add too much the proceedings. Drew Barrymore is surprisingly good, several years past the point where I wrote her off (that was somewhere around Bad Girls). Rockwell is nothing short of stunning in several scenes. Moreover, you simply can't go wrong with a movie featuring Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine.
Review by Richard Redd |