Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 2002

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Rockwell lets us see all the joy, lust, self-pity, and rage with which Barris gonged himself. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: I have to confess there's nothing very dangerous going on in a comedy that is neither as twistedly weird as your average Gong Show contestant nor as arch as an interview on The Newlywed Game. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This somber, draggy movie, which is nothing like the breezy, lunatic comedy its TV ads promise, takes Barris' claims at face value and plays them for stone-faced drama. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Now as a former Gong Show addict, I'll admit it, my only complaint is that we didn't get more re-creations of all those famous moments from the show. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A blast from beginning to end and shows first-time director George Clooney is equal parts fearless, brilliant and perhaps daft. But an intriguing daftness it is. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's a smart, stylish, eminently watchable movie that nonetheless feels a little empty at the end. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: The movie is compulsively watchable even if it never quite convinces you that it's much more than a fanciful story. Read more

Andrew Mitchell, New York Times: A good piece of work more often than not. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Rockwell is wonderful throughout, capturing Barris' inherent sleaziness and insecurity as well as, well, the vision of the man who could be called the godfather of reality TV. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A film so tedious that it is impossible to care whether that boast is true or not. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Who would've thought a movie about Chuck Barris could be so rich and entertaining? Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: An irresistible sham. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Reinforces the talents of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, creator of Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. Read more

John Powers, L.A. Weekly: Rockwell delivers a performance admirable in its hustling sweatiness. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Never mind whether you buy the stuff about Barris being a CIA hit man. The kooky yet shadowy vision Clooney sustains throughout is daring, inventive and impressive. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: The problem with making a movie about a hollow man is that, when things start to get heavy, you're stuck with nothingness at the core. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Mr. Clooney, Mr. Kaufman and all their collaborators are entitled to take a deep bow for fashioning an engrossing entertainment out of an almost sure-fire prescription for a critical and commercial disaster. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: There's nothing terribly witty, clever, satirical, or irreverent about Charlie Kauffman's screenplay. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Not only intriguing as a story but great to look at, a marriage of bright pop images from the 1960s and 1970s and dark, cold spyscapes that seem to have wandered in from John le Carre. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The American film of the season -- and maybe of the year, or the last couple of years... Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie makes a case for itself through sheer oddness and perversity. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind works best as a rollicking trip through the pop culture of the '60s and '70s. Read more

Time Out: Brimming with slightly self-conscious directorial panache, the movie zips between nearly three decades, fantasy and reality without ever really deciding how seriously it wants to take itself. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Confessions may not be a straightforward bio, nor does it offer much in the way of Barris' motivations, but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: A powerful and creative film. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: The movie is, finally, an enigma, not because of Barris's monstrous fibbing, but because it resists being experienced as satire for the sake of its own satirical integrity. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: A picture that is surely one of the oddest ever made. Read more