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Jankowicz
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
USA, 2002
[George Clooney]
Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhall, George Clooney
Crime / Drama
5th January 2004
Stylish? Yes. Well-acted? Yes. Intriguing? Yes. And yet I still don't really know what I think of this film. As a supposedly true story, the you-couldn't-make-it-up feel is probably what is causing this. It's a scriptwriter's dream, and yet part of me couldn't help thinking 'so what?'

Sam Rockwell gives an excellent performance as Chuck Barris, the TV impresario who claims to have spent his spare moments as a CIA assassin. I admit here I was hoping for a touch of the James Bonds, which really don't turn up but which are replaced by good solid acting and a progressive sense of evil.

The most interesting thing about it is how Barris is portrayed here as almost unrelentingly and blandly unlikeable. Shades of Arendt's 'banality of evil' are perceptible here, as Barris begins by creating the world's most trashy television and ends up murdering his allies, all the while thoroughly trampling on his girlfriend (Barrymore) and making pots of money. Instead of asking us to identify with the hero, Clooney forces our alienation from him and brings Barris' own alienation to the fore. What is left is a slick story which seems designed nevertheless to leave a bad taste in the mouth.
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