March 04, 2006
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Reality Check Please
Although one hopes to be able to make the distinction, "reality television" blurs the lines between fiction and the real world. "Real" people are put in fantastical situations such as trying to survive on a remote island or phony people are sent to work on farms when you know they'd much rather be out shopping in Paris.
With this in mind, it's fitting that a film about the man who pretty much invented the genre so adeptly melds the two worlds together.
Adapted from his memoirs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind follows Chuck Barris from his rise to fame as a TV producer to his other life as an assassin for the CIA. Or so he claims. Barris is the creator of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and the precursor to American Idol; the Gong Show. He knew what the public wanted and he delivered it. Off screen, it seems that he had a much different idea of what the public wanted from him. With over 100 kills to his credit, it seems that Barris had not only shaped the future of television, he had also changed the course of the world during his stint with the CIA.
Knowing that viewers were going to take this claim with much skepticism, George Clooney (the director) and Charlie Kauffman (writer) just play it straight. The film doesn't voice an opinion it just presents it how Barris allegedly told it. The film is often hilarious with great performances and cameos (most notably Brad Pitt and Matt Damon) but the film closes on a bit of a somber note with a shot of the actual Chuck Barris.
After injecting some of the real world into television, Barris seems to have felt the need to fill some void in his life with a little fantasy. The shot of him conveys a bit of a vulnerability and unhappiness, he's either delusional or desperate. Either way, just like everybody else you see on TV whoring themselves out, you feel a little bad having laughed at him.
But then again, who knows. Maybe he's getting the last laugh and everything he says is true, maybe that guy on TV eating the cow penis is a happier person than I am and having a more fulfilling life, maybe Tom and Katie really have this whole love thing figured out... OMG, I wonder what they're going to name their kid???
Reality check please.
