What’s more believable, that you’re a game-show creator or an assassin for the CIA? In his 1984 autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Chuck Barris claimed to be both.

The film opens with Barris (Sam Rockwell) standing naked in a hotel room. He’s holed himself up, seemingly in depression from the fear that although he’s shown considerable talent in the TV industry, everything he’s done might be all he can do. He’s petrified by the notion that his ability may have reached its limit.

Barris did create The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show -- we know that to be true, and that’s far more than most people achieve. Still, his success in creating those TV programs didn’t seem to be enough. There’s nothing that would indicate he ever was an assassin for the CIA, and that shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone. Still, it’s obvious that Barris wanted to be more -- much more. So it’s not too hard to imagine that anyone with enough creativity to think up those game shows could also fancy himself doing something a little more exciting like being an assassin.

Sam Rockwell, whose roles so far have never allowed him to stretch like this, puts on a blistering performance as Chuck Barris. He seems to inhabit the character and nail his quirky mannerisms and speech perfectly. No doubt he’ll be nominated for plenty of awards, and he deserves to take home a few, too. It’s George Clooney, though, who is the surprise of this film.

Clooney co-stars in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, but this is also his directorial debut. It’s something he said he fell into, more or less, because no one else would take on the project. I can see why. The game-show aspect is oddball, certainly, and Barris’s life, beyond that, is really not all that interesting. You have to ask yourself: Does anyone really care enough about this guy to build an entire movie around him? And what do you do with the part about his being an assassin? Many, myself included, doubted that Clooney could tackle such an ambitious project. Heck, I doubted that anyone could pull it off!

Wisely, Charlie Kaufman, the writer behind the fact’n’fiction scripts for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, was recruited for the screenplay. Kaufman and Clooney seem to work from the same page and don’t challenge Barris’s claims; instead, they simply play them out as Barris would like them. Clooney’s direction has such style and flair -- along with the same type of tongue-in-cheek attitude that Barris seems to have injected into his book -- that Confessions sizzles on the screen. Surprisingly, I did end up caring about Barris’s life, mostly because of how humble he appears to be, despite the zany exterior. As for his being an assassin, well, anyone who can create a TV show where everyday people are excited about getting on stage and making fools of themselves is allowed to get away with almost anything. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is an exhilarating look into a surprisingly entertaining life.

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