Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

What if a TV comedy producer were also working undercover for the CIA? It's possible. Stranger things happen at sea.

"My name is Charles Hirsch Barris. I have written pop songs. I have been a television producer. I am responsible for polluting the airwaves with mind-numbing puerile entertainment. In addition I have murdered thirty-three human beings."

The CIA have denied it. In Time magazine, CIA spokesman Paul Nowack said, "It's ridiculous. It's absolutely not true." Of course, having the CIA deny it only adds, ironically, to the credence of the idea.

In "Confessions", Chuck Barris, the creator of the Dating Game, The Newly Wed Game, The Game Game, the Ra Ra Show, and the Gong Show, reveals his hidden life as an undercover assassin.

The Gong Show is based on the sad fact that there is an unending supply of talentless weirdos in the US who will do anything to get on TV. I loved the Gong Show, the sheer dishevelment of it all. Chuck Barriss's hair. His random hats, and those over-the-top frilly, wide-collared shirts. Always careering close to the edge, with the illusion (or, more likely, the reality) that it could all quite suddenly spiral out of control. Outrageously bad acts would come on, and perform to a stunned audience and gobsmacked judges until they got the gong from 70s TV demistars like Klinger from Mash.

The idea of a dishevelled and wacky Barris being an undercover CIA agent is almost ludicrous enough to work as a comedy thriller. Almost.

"Confessions" is produced by George Clooney, who also plays a role in this film as Barriss's CIA contact. The film is based on Barriss's 1984 book of the same name, his "An Unauthorised Autobiography", and offers an interesting insight into the workings of his mind. However the film never really takes off. While it has a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, it is not hilarious enough to work as a comedy, and you can't take the "thriller" element seriously enough for it to work on that level. Julia Roberts looks good as an undercover agent, but the thriller plot is stale and underdeveloped, as are the characters.

I found the most interesting piece of the DVD to be in the extras. The interview with "The Real Chuck Barriss" reveals his disillusionment and difficulty dealing with the criticism of his crass, but funny TV game shows. The criticism becomes too much for Chuck, and he leaves the business, and clearly regrets doing so. The film explores the vagaries of success, and perhaps the bizarre subplot reveals more about an unusual character who perhaps wished he had done more with his life. Whose mind was perhaps, ultimately, not as "dangerous" as we all might have liked.

Barriss: "I came up with a new game-show idea recently. It's called The Old Game. You got three old guys with loaded guns onstage. They look back at their lives, see who they were, what they accomplished, how close they came to realizing their dreams. The winner is the one who doesn't blow his brains out. He gets a refrigerator."

The spirit of the Gong Show lives on in countless "reality" and "Idol" TV shows, but minus the manic edginess of the original.

Chuck Barriss is now 73, and lives in an Upper East Side apartment. His poetic license is currently under suspension.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older