SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND

"CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND"
(2002) (Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Heavy	Heavy	Extreme	Mild	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	None	Mild	None	Extreme

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Extreme	Minor	Mild	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: A TV game show producer leads a double life as a covert CIA hitman.

PLOT:

It's 1981 and TV producer Chuck Barris (SAM ROCKWELL) is holed up inside a NY hotel, apparently suffering from a mental breakdown. Terrified and ashamed of everything in his life, he decides the solution might be to record what he deems to have been a wasted life.

Through a series of flashbacks, we then follow him from 1955 New York where he's introduced to the world of TV production to 1961 Philadelphia where he's trying to make a pilot. It's there that he meets the free-spirited Penny (DREW BARRYMORE) who gives him the idea for "The Dating Game."

He also meets Jim Byrd (GEORGE CLOONEY), a CIA recruiter who believes Chuck fits the profile to be a freelance assassin. Although initially reluctant, Barris eventually agrees and then goes on to become quite proficient in the field, all while using his chaperone duties on "The Dating Game" as his cover for his hits.

Yet, he longs to be just a TV producer, but his interaction with shady operatives such as Patricia Watson (JULIA ROBERTS) and Keeler (RUTGER HAUER) eventually means that he's in too deep to simply walk away. From that point on, he tries to balance his TV work, his relationship with Penny and the fact that he might be the next target of an anonymous but deadly mole.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Other than curious older teenagers, the only likely kids interested in this would seem to be fans of someone in the cast or possibly in game show producer Chuck Barris.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For language, sexual content and violence.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: SAM ROCKWELL plays real-life TV producer Chuck Barris who not only created TV shows such as "The Dating Game," but also served as a covert CIA assassin. He kills various people, has sex with various women, uses strong profanity, drinks, smokes, and cheats on Penny.
DREW BARRYMORE plays his longtime girlfriend who's sexually provocative, sleeps with him, uses strong profanity, and puts up and sticks with him.
GEORGE CLOONEY plays the CIA operative who finds and convinces Chuck to join the company. He uses strong profanity.
JULIA ROBERTS plays a covert operative who deals with Chuck and may or may not be on his side. She also uses some strong profanity.
RUTGER HAUER plays another shady operative.; DREW BARRYMORE plays his longtime girlfriend who's sexually provocative, sleeps with him, uses strong profanity, and puts up and sticks with him.
GEORGE CLOONEY plays the CIA operative who finds and convinces Chuck to join the company. He uses strong profanity.
JULIA ROBERTS plays a covert operative who deals with Chuck and may or may not be on his side. She also uses some strong profanity.
RUTGER HAUER plays another shady operative.; GEORGE CLOONEY plays the CIA operative who finds and convinces Chuck to join the company. He uses strong profanity.
JULIA ROBERTS plays a covert operative who deals with Chuck and may or may not be on his side. She also uses some strong profanity.
RUTGER HAUER plays another shady operative.; JULIA ROBERTS plays a covert operative who deals with Chuck and may or may not be on his side. She also uses some strong profanity.
RUTGER HAUER plays another shady operative.; RUTGER HAUER plays another shady operative.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 56 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also used. Sexually explicit dialogue is present as are various sexual encounters (with movement, sounds and some nudity) and sexually related material (including a boy trying to convince a girl to perform oral sex on him). Nonsexual nudity (a man's bare butt) is also present.

Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes including the protagonist who cheats on his girlfriend and works as an assassin for the CIA. Several such murders occur (with some bloody results) but most do so off camera. Other fighting, striking and struggling is also present. Various characters drink and/or smoke, while one woman asks for but does not receive some pot.

Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: We see Chuck drinking in a bar.
Chuck and Penny have beer.
People have champagne.
Jim and Chuck have drinks on a plane.
Jim and Chuck have beer.
Chuck pours drinks and a woman asks if he has any weed (he says, "I wish").
People have drinks in Helsinki.
Chuck and Patricia have wine.
People celebrate with beer.
Chuck and Penny have wine.
People have drinks.
Chuck has drinks with a man.
People drink.
Chuck has shots with Patricia and a bartender.
Chuck drinks from a flask.

BLOOD/GORE: We see a dead man on the ground with a little bit of blood on his clothing (we don't see the shooting that killed him).
We hear Chuck vomiting.
Chuck apparently puts some microfilm up his rear with some sort of lubricant (not seen in graphic detail).
We see Chuck with black eyes.
We briefly see blood on a person who's been shot.
We see some blood splatter inside a car and then some on a person's hands and clothes.
We see some blood in a swimming pool (with it being suggested that a dead person is in there or that blood is coming from a person sitting on the diving board).
More people who are shot are bloody.
Chuck imagines seeing dead and bloody people all over a TV studio.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: After learning that he's impregnated a woman, Chuck plans to skip town, saying he can't be saddled with a kid.
Penny refers to someone she had sex with as an "Oriental."
Chuck becomes as assassin for the CIA and kills various people. Others involved in the same business also have bad attitudes (although some are working for their government, or so it's said).
People use the terms "queer" and "faggot."
Chuck cheats on Penny with Patricia and other women.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" could also be unsettling or tense for some viewers.
While paranoid, Chuck holds a gun to another man's head.

GUNS/WEAPONS: We see Chuck and others assembling and then firing weapons during assassin training.
Handguns: Carried and/or used to kill people. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "What the f*ck did you get fired for?" "F*ck you, you condescending pr*ck," "What the f*ck did you get pregnant for," "You f*ck," "Holy f*ck," "Fix this f*cking thing," "That's f*cking great," "We don't have time to f*ck around," "Where the f*ck you been?" "What the f*ck am I supposed to do?" "Oh, f*ck," "F*ck 'em," "F*cking bastards," "F*cking crazy," "Bullsh*t," "Sh*t-can," "Get blown" (receive oral sex), "Strawberry d*ck," "Chicks" (women), "Hot damn," "Screw off," "Queer," "Don't blow it," "Faggot," "Who the hell are you?" "Screwed you over" and "Idiot."
Chuck tells a joke that if you wear a cellophane suit, "Can people see you're/your nuts?"

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): A mild amount of such music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 56 "f" words (5 used sexually as are the terms "get laid" and "ball"), 12 "s" words, 7 slang terms using male genitals ("d*ck," "pr*ck" and "c*ck"), 2 for female genitals ("p*ssy"), 5 asses (2 used with "hole"), 2 damns, 1 hell, 4 uses of "Jesus" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "Dear God," "God," "Oh Christ," "Oh God" and "Oh my God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: We see part of Chuck's bare butt as he stands nude in front of the TV in a hotel (even as a maid works around him).
We see a flashback to Chuck as a boy asking his sister's friend if she wants "to lick it" (his penis). She says no and why should she, and he replies that it tastes like a strawberry lollipop. She says it doesn't and he bets her a dollar that it does. In voice over narration, the adult Chuck states, "the repulsiveness of my sex was confirmed by the taste buds of a ripening pubescent girl."
Chuck comments about "chasing p*ssy" and wanting to "get laid" and "get blown."
In another flashback, young Chuck apparently exposes himself to a girl in a theater. She screams and flees. We later see an older couple making out in a theater.
We hear sexual sounds and see a woman having sex on top of Chuck (at first a head and shoulders shot and then a long shot from behind her showing her moving on top of him with his legs sticking straight out from the covers and the sight of her bare back). She later announces that she's pregnant (but then realizes she was just late).
We see Chuck having sex on top of a woman, Debbie, who looks bored. We see movement under the sheets as well as the side of her bare breast.
We see Chuck's bare butt as he stands in front of the fridge and then Penny who arrives in the kitchen. She then wonders how sex with Debbie was and he replies that it was fine. She then states, "I just got f*cked by this drummer cat" and then adds, "I f*cked an Oriental last week." She then tells him, "We could ball if you want."
We see a montage of Chuck and Penny having sex (a head and shoulders shot in the shower with implied movement and kissing, and then movement under the covers). A comment is then made that just because "we f*cked" doesn't mean there are strings.
Upon first meeting Jim, Chuck thinks he's gay and coming on to him.
Jim tells Chuck that he knows everything about him, including "which hand you jerk off with." Later, he comments on what the above girl thought about the strawberry taste.
As part of assassin practice, we see electrical wires being attached to the crotch of a dummy (with the instructor saying to put them on the genitalia).
We see Chuck standing nude in front of the TV (bare butt).
We see an early prototype of the Dating Game that's filled with innuendo and double entendres, such as "My big cock," being well-hung and a bachelorette stating that she plays the trombone and then asking one of the bachelors, "If I blew you, what would you sound like?" The guy then makes some sexual sounds.
Chuck pats a woman at work on her butt and she does it back to him.
We see Chuck's bare butt again.
Chuck and Patricia swipe things off a table, start passionately kissing, and she licks all over his face (in an exaggerated fashion). He then says he has to go to the bathroom to take care of something (the microfilm he has hidden in his anus), but she suggestively tells him to leave it in.
During a segment of "The Newlywed Game," the host asks the women about the weirdest place they've gotten the urge to "make whoopee." One responds, "In the ass," people laugh and the host clarifies to mean he's was talking about the weirdest location.
We see an out of focus and silhouetted shot of some kissing.
Penny says that she and Chuck have known and "f*cked each other" forever and thus should get married.
We see some women in bikinis and Chuck spots a woman who appears to be swimming nude (but no details can be seen through the water).
We see a woman's cleavage in her bra.
Penny comes home to find Chuck kissing some woman and being on top of her (with some heavy breathing, etc.). She then angrily comments on him fulfilling his "p*ssy needs" in their house.

SMOKING: Chuck smokes more than 10 times, while Patricia and various miscellaneous characters also smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: There are indications that Chuck didn't have a happy or normal childhood.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: Government operatives and assassins.
"Reality" style TV programming.

VIOLENCE: A girl punches young Chuck when he tries to kiss her.
We see Chuck being tossed out of a bar in a flashback.
A person punches Chuck in the face.
We hear the sounds of people struggling.
During some assassin training, the instructor hits a volunteer quite hard in the throat, causing him to choke and fall to the ground.
We see a dead man on the ground with a little bit of blood on his clothing (we don't see the shooting that killed him although Chuck or another man is the gunman).
Chuck shoots a man in an alley several times, killing him, but we don't see the man or the impact. He then briefly holds his gun on a complaining game show winner, but doesn't shoot him.
A man opens a door into another man and then pushes him against the car and then into it. He then strangles the man (not explicitly seen).
We see Chuck's point of view of someone knocking him out.
Chuck imagines shooting a woman with a shotgun.
We briefly see blood on a person who's been shot.
Several more people are shot and murdered.
We hear that a person committed suicide.
We see some blood in a swimming pool (with it being suggested that a dead person is in there or that blood is coming from a person sitting on the diving board).
While paranoid, Chuck holds a gun to another man's head.
Chuck imagines seeing dead and bloody people all over a TV studio.
A person appears to be dying from being poisoned.
A person poisons another person, resulting in their death.

Reviewed December 13, 2002 / Posted January 24, 2003

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