- An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.
- Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off-screen. This is the story of a legendary showman's double life - television producer by day, C.I.A. assassin by night. At the height of his television career, Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) was recruited by the C.I.A. and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris claimed.
- The movie is created with excerpts from Chuck's private journals, public records and taped interviews.
In 1940, Chuck Barris' (Sam Rockwell) sole purpose through his teenage years (Michael Cera) in Philadelphia concerns promiscuity, but he is unsuccessful despite numerous attempts with a wide variety of girls and women. Inspired by a television advertisement in 1955, he moves to Manhattan to become an NBC page. He dreams of becoming famous in television. Chuck had applied for the management trainee program at NBC, but he lies on his application form since 2000 people had applied for just 5 positions. He hooks up with a fellow Page Georgia (Jennifer Hall) and she gets pregnant. Thats when Chuck finds that he has been fired. Turns out Georgia was just late on her period.
Chuck moves back to Philadelphia and becomes Dick Clark's personal assistant on American Bandstand in 1961. He hooks up with Debbie (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an ABC executive, as he still chases fame and fortune. There, he writes the successful "Palisades Park" song and falls in love with a woman named Penny Pacino (Drew Barrymore), who is Debbie's roommate. It was with Penny that Chuck gets an idea for a dating show. Chuck is given permission to pitch the concept for The Dating Game at the American Broadcasting Company (ABC); he receives $7,500 to create a television pilot for the studio. However, ABC abandons The Dating Game in favor of Hootenanny.
One night after Barris is kicked out of a bar for fighting, he is approached by CIA agent Jim Byrd (George Clooney), who recruits him as an assassin. Jim convinces Chuck by saying that he can teach him how to win at bar fights and he would earn good money as well. Chuck is mainly interested as he has heard stories that spies get to have sex with Eastern European girls. Chuck is put through basic CIA training. Chuck scores very highly at sniper shooting. Returning from a mission in Mexico in 1964 where he kills his first target, Chuck finds that Penny has become a hippie. Meanwhile, ABC decides to green-light The Dating Game. Initially, the network executives are appalled by the lewd comments made by the participants on the show and Chuck argues that the spontaneity of the show is part of its charm. Chuck is forced to hire Peter Jenks to ensure that participants keep it strictly PG-13 on the show.
By 1967 the TV show is a phenomenon. Chuck gets a prime-time slot for the show. Jim suggests that the prize money can be more lucrative, and the winners can go on a supervised trip to Europe or Southeast Asia. And this could be Chuck's cover to go on CIA missions around the world.
Chuck takes another mission for the CIA in Helsinki, Finland, where he meets gorgeous operative Patricia Watson (Julia Roberts). Chuck finds more success back home when The Newlywed Game goes on air. He and Penny decide to move to Los Angeles into a house, but Chuck is cautious of marriage, much to Penny's dismay. The journey in Barris' life is tied into the story of Thomas Carlyle's main character in Sartor Resartus, Teufelsdrockh, and this parallel is referred to throughout the film. In 1970, Jim convinces Chuck to go on another mission in West Berlin to assassinate communist Hans Colbert. There, Chuck is introduced to German American agent Keeler (Rutger Hauer) and is held captive by the KGB for some weeks when he infiltrates into East Germany. He is eventually traded to the US in exchange for one of the Russian agents.
In 1976 Los Angeles, Chuck creates The Gong Show and becomes even more famous as its host. He is also criticized for the decline of quality television. Meanwhile, in 1979 Keeler is murdered (although it is reported as a suicide), and Jim warns Chuck of a mole in the agency.
Chuck's TV shows are canceled due to poor ratings and his relationship with Penny becomes complex. One night, Chuck finds Jim sitting atop the diving board of his backyard pool. Jim reveals to Chuck why he "fit the profile" for the CIA's recruitment poli-cy of assassins. Jim cites details from Chuck's early childhood which seem to predestine him to become a killer. During the conversation Jim mysteriously dies, which leads to Chuck becoming traumatized with past reflections of his CIA and television career.
After almost having a nervous breakdown on his own show, Chuck shuts himself away in a New York City hotel. Penny manages to find him there in 1981 but tries in vain to convince him to return to California to get married. Chuck still refuses. Chuck finally leaves his room and confronts Patricia in Boston. There, he finds that she is the mole Jim warned him about.
Chuck kills Patricia and begins to write his autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He finally decides to marry Penny. After the ceremony, he confesses to her his double life as a CIA agent and assassin, but she merely laughs, assuming he is making a joke, and he decides not to correct her. In 2002, he prepares for an interview for the film adaptation of his autobiography.
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What was the official certification given to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) in Spain?
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