Since "ER" George Clooney has been a very popular actor, mainly because so many women find him very attractive. But through the years he has been able to prove that he's more than just a pretty face in the crowd. He has acted in many popular movies and did it pretty well in most of them. But being a good actor doesn't mean that you are automatically a good director as well of course. So before seeing "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", his debut as a director, I had my doubts...

This time we don't get to see Clooney very often in the movie itself. We only get to see him a couple of times as the CIA agent who has hired the game show impresario and producer Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell). During the day Chuck invents game shows like 'The Dating Game', 'The Newlywed Game' and 'The Gong Show'... Shows that are all very successful, because they are easy to understand and fun to watch. But next to his regular day job he is also a CIA assassin. At least, that's what HE claims to be...

I must say that Clooney has done a very nice job in his debut as a director. He has added a nice surreal tone to this movie which makes it even harder to understand whether all this really happened or not. And even though this is a bio-pic, it is never hard to keep watching it or to stay focused. Thanks to the light and satirical feeling in it, this movie stays fun to watch from the beginning until the end. Of course without the interesting story and the good acting by all of his main actors Clooney wouldn't have been able to make this movie. Withouth them this movie wouldn't be the same and might even have been awful to watch. Especially Drew Barrymore was a lot better than I had expected. She never really convinced me in her other movies that I saw, but this time she's really good as Barris Sweetheart. And Clooney himself was interesting to watch as well. Even though he could be found more behind than in front of the camera, he still proves to be a talented actor.

Overall this is an interesting and fun movie. Certainly because it is Clooney's debut as a director. The man sure has a lot of talents and I'm already looking forward to his next movie as a director / actor. I give this one a 7.5/10.

As long as you realize that about half (or more) of what you see in this film is NOT true and it's a completely ridiculous and insane version of a real life celebrity's life, then by all means watch and enjoy it. It is NOT good history, as practically no one believes Chuck Barris' nutty 'autobiography' (in which he claims to have been a CIA assassin) and the writer and director of the film took no efforts to portray the rest of his life accurately. Despite the ever-present love interest in his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore),Barris never was married to a Penny...but had three other wives. And, often even the sequence of his TV shows isn't even close to being right, as the film shows him, while hosting "The Gong Show" (in the late 1970s) talking about another show he was thinking about making, "Operation Entertainment"...even though this show aired about a decade earlier! So don't see it as any sort of lesson about Barris...none. If you can do that, the acting is quite nice (with a lot of high-profile actors making bit and larger appearances in the film) and the insane script is pretty interesting....at least until the very maudlin and dull ending.

George Clooney doesn't have the visual imaginations of a great director. He does a competent job. The best thing he does is to point the camera at Sam Rockwell. Sam rocks out on this crazy story.

Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) is a liar, womanizer, schemer, TV producer, and a CIA trained assassin. The first on the list is the most important one of them all. Based on his book and Charlie Kaufman's screenplay, it goes into some less than believable parts of Barris' life. Although Kaufman's script was changed by Clooney. CK's version would probably be too daring for Clooney's amateur hands.

This is good starting point for an actor doing directing. It doesn't have a sharp interesting point of view. It does work as a platform for Sam Rockwell.