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CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
"The year goes out on a high note with 'Confessions
of a Dangerous Mind,' George Clooney's hugely entertaining 'biography'
of Chuck Barris...Together, the previously obscure Sam Rockwell--who
delivers a bravura performance as Barris--and Clooney, in a stunning
directing debut, transform Barris' wild yarns into the movie equivalent
of must-see TV...The new movie is a head-clearing, mind-blowing
blast from the past--one of the year's best." --
Lou Lumenick, The New York Post
"...one of the dwindling year's best films...Under the daring, rookie-of-the-year
direction of George Clooney, 'Confessions' the movie makes effective
black-comic narrative out of Barris' whoppers by taking them, wholly
and even exhaustively, at face value...Somehow Clooney evokes the
weirdness of real life and the reality in dreams with a seamless
elegance and gimlet eye... Rockwell's bust-out performance takes
in a lot of emotional territory, from callow exuberance to crusty
paranoia and blasted despair. Yet he contains the psychic swirl
and tumult with remarkable poise." -- Gene
Seymour, Newsday
"The film is much more smug and pleased with itself than it has
any reason to be. Part of the problem is likely the screenplay,
which makes you wonder if, with a nod to 'Adaptation,' there are
two Charlie Kaufmans, one who writes brilliant scripts like 'Being
John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation,' and one who writes unwatchable
ones like 'Human Nature' and 'Dangerous Mind'...With its multiplicity
of over-stylized looks and slick gimmicks, 'Dangerous Mind' was
doubtless more stimulating to direct than it will be for audiences
to experience." -- Kenneth
Turan, The Los Angeles Times
"George Clooney displays guts and whimsy by making his directing
debut with 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,' a perversely enjoyable
entry in that new genre, the biopic of the tawdry TV personality."
-- Jami Bernard, The New York
Daily News
"This film, a shape-shifting apologia-biopic as weird as 'Adaptation,'
is too cold for its own good. George Clooney, though, in his directorial
debut, does show an eye, and a head, for filmmaking...Mr. Rockwell
does a dazzling job of conveying the seething confusion beneath
his character's dazed amiability." --Elvis Mitchell, The New York
Times
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