Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald ration: * * * )

Some of the print ads to this one have George Clooney's head transplanted on to James Bond's body.

But Clooney's screen character here (who unlike the surreal 007 version sports a hefty moustache) spends little more than 10 minutes of his directorial debut in front of the camera.

When he is, Clooney is a shady CIA operative who recruits 60s American gameshow whiz Chuck Barris (Rockwell) into the firm to give him a second career as an assassin.

Or he might just be a product of Barris' active, damaged and deluded imagination.

But that's the point of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the real-life Barris' 1981 "unauthorised" biography, and which is scripted by Charlie Kaufman, who has played similar mind games in his Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.

Kaufman and Clooney's flick traverses a permanent twilight zone between Barris' life as a television visionary - he invented reality television prototypes like The Gong Show and The Dating Game - and that other life which he revealed after suffering a mental breakdown when his TV era had effectively ended at the end of the 70s.

It's a divide that Clooney and especially Rockwell's portrayal of Barris navigates with the greatest of ease and black humour for much of the film. Until, that is, the darkness really sets in and as Barris' life unravels so does the movie in what becomes a long, stifling final few reels.

The other problem is that Barris isn't much of a pop culture figure beyond the States and that - on the evidence this presents - he wasn't a particularly likeable guy, even on his more stable days.

Rockwell is compelling, though, as a man driven by a heady mix of sexual promiscuity, self-loathing, and rampant ego to make his name in television - and then supposedly use that career as a cover for his other job, potting commies between chaperoning The Dating Game winners on their prize East European holidays.

As well, Drew Barrymore impresses as Penny, Chuck's long-suffering girlfriend, and Julia Roberts shows that she, too, could be a Bond girl from her performance in her cloak and dagger role. And there's amusing cameos from Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

As for Clooney, his first film as director shows he has a good eye and knows how to tell a story, even if the yarn's absurdity trips his film up. But perhaps his next flick as director will be so good, they won't have to use his picture to market it.

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore. Julia Roberts, George Clooney

Director: George Clooney

Rating: R16 (sex, offensive language)

Running time: 114 mins

Screening: Village Queen St, Rialto cinemas.