Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Miramax Films | Release Date: December 31, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
8
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyRobert Koehler
A powerful and creative film. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It's a funny, strange, sad and wonderful picture, packed with delightful performances by Hollywood stars and made by a director with a startling facility for the form and an expansive cinematic imagination. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
A fascinating, frequently hilarious meditation on delusion, self-loathing and personal salesmanship Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A darkly enjoyable roller-coaster ride -- Clooney and Kaufman deftly interweave the macabre with lightheartedness. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
As for myself, I think he made it all up and never killed anybody. Having been involved in a weekly television show myself, I know for a melancholy fact that there is just not enough time between tapings to fly off to Helsinki and kill for my government. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Screenwriter Kaufman is in fine meta-fettle here, even if he's still losing control of his material toward the end, and while it's too soon to tell whether Clooney has the stuff of a great director, he certainly knows who to hire. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
A head-clearing, mind-blowing blast from the past - one of the year's best. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The fascination of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the sharp, funny, unreasonably compelling adaptation of Barris' autobiography, is the way it soft-shoes past our skepticism. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Confessions keeps its cards close, and Kaufman is perfectly capable of starving his screenplay to save it, and perfectly happy with being misunderstood. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A picture that is surely one of the oddest ever made. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
This fairy-tale quality gives director Clooney, who's making his debut behind the camera, his stylistic clue. He's in perfect sync with writer Kaufman; they treat even the most "serious" scenes like Monty Python routines. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Clooney shows strong filmmaking imagination in his directorial debut, but the movie's driving force is Charlie Kaufman's screenplay, a genre-bending romp that blurs all boundaries between the factual and the fantastical. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
All about the wacky borderlands where reality and invention intersect. But there are no safe demarcations -- no demilitarized zone, no Berlin Wall -- to cue us to which side we're operating in, or that Barris is operating in. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
May not be a straightforward bio, nor does it offer much in the way of Barris' motivations, but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A perversely enjoyable entry in that new genre, the biopic of the tawdry TV personality. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Clooney fashions a style all his own: visceral, vital and churning with off-the-wall ideas. That's what makes you want to see Clooney direct again. You can feel his joy in it. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Reflects the sensibilities of its director, whose comedic performances in particular have indicated a game spirit and droll sense of humor. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
An attractive, charming film that has fun with its period settings, its goofy plot and its off-kilter performances. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A moody picture that's filled from start to finish with camera tricks, unexpected angles and innovative flourishes. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Even though he's strikingly played by Rockwell, Barris comes off as such a distasteful character and the silliness is so unrelenting that the movie wears you out. Long before it's over, you feel yourself reaching for that gong clapper. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A great, bizarre, and ultimately very, very unique film. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's nice to see Clooney choosing something offbeat (as opposed to "safe") for his first outing behind the camera. If he continues to develop, he has the potential to become a good director -- he's just not there yet. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
Ultimately just another celebrity bio-pic, and far less trenchant than, say, the more conventional "Auto Focus." For all their whirring ingenuity, Kaufman's scripts require a director who will tether his cleverness to reality. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Sam Rockwell plays Barris with a hipster’s shimmy that’s creepily effective -- The problem with making a movie about a hollow man is that, when things start to get heavy, you’re stuck with nothingness at the core. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The finished film afflicted my own mind with an unwilling suspension of belief. I couldn't connect with it on any level, despite Sam Rockwell's terrific performance as an emotional desperado who wants only to be loved.
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A good piece of work more often than not, and this is one of the few times an actor turned director has chosen to subvert the feel-good genre for his maiden voyage. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Clooney badly botches the spy plot by casting himself as Barris's agency contact... and a truly awful Julia Roberts as Barris's Mata Hari lover (she's soundly upstaged by Drew Barrymore as his devoted girlfriend). Yet the mounting delirium drives home Kaufman's basic point: that a shadow government rules by bread and circuses. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
I suppose it's too much to expect Pirandellian stature from the madness of Chuck Barris -- but that's about the only thing that would have made this mixed-up ego trip work. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's tremendously clever, but ultimately pointless. Read full review
40
Film ThreatDarrin Keene
The ingredients were there for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to become a cult classic, but the resulting film is a tedious Hollywood yawner. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
You won't believe the story director George Clooney and his goofball TV host are trying to sell. Really. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
For the story of a man who made his mark on pop culture by being a likable buffoon, the irritatingly arch Confessions of a Dangerous Mind takes itself way too seriously. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
George Clooney's first effort behind the camera was doubtless more stimulating to direct than it will be for audiences to watch. Read full review
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