I recorded this off IFC; the movie is from 2002.
When first we see Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), he's standing heavily bearded in a hotel room, watching Ronald Reagan's inauguration, and he's stark naked. He's unraveling after a life of making tawdry stupid game shows (the Dating Game, the Newlywed Game, the Gong Show - all of which I used to watch) and working as a hitman for the CIA. His erstwhile on and off girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore) is confessing her love for him but he turns her away. That's when we delve back into the past to figure out how he ended going all Howard Hughes.
By the way, Chuck has a lovely ass. Which is a good thing, since we see a lot of it. He spends a good chunk of the early movie in bed with somebody. (His brief scene with Maggie Gyllenhaal is funny just because she could be watching television for all the interest she shows.) He decides to get a job in TV and moves up the management ladder mainly as a way to meet women. Then he meets Jim Byrd (George Clooney) who recruits him to the CIA. From there on he not only creates game shows, he runs around killing people in weird locations. Byrd is his regular contact throughout the entire film, showing up regularly with assignments.
A lot of women love Clooney because of his movie-star good looks, his boyish attitude, his rollicking sense of humor. Me, it's that voice. So I was glad to find out he actually had a role in his directorial debut, but a small one. Still, he does it well, as he usually does, even if he's wearing a ridiculous mustache.
Rockwell is really pretty good in this movie; I admit I'm not familiar with his work but he's got an extensive repertoire and he seems to enjoy playing this randy, tawdry, self-loathing man, especially when he gets to sport 70s bellbottoms, big Kramer hair and a fedora. He struts like he's fallen out of Saturday Night Fever. And Barris never really seems to age - neither does anyone else for that matter - but Rockwell does a good job showing us Barris' changing mindset, which eventually devolves into paranoia.
Because this is a Clooney movie, and it's partially a comedy, keep a sharp eye out for Clooney's good friends. (Is there a name for this bunch? Clooney's Goonies? The Pitt Pack? Julia's Boys?) Julia Roberts has a fairly sizeable role as a shady contact with whom Barris carries on a long affair, and I just never got the feeling somebody like Julia would really get into licking Sam Rockwell's face - so there's never any real chemistry there. Barrymore is much more believable, and I did think at some points of this film that she looks good in clothing from the 40s and 50s - and her unique beauty gets much better treatment in this film than in, say, "Music and Lyrics", although she's shown in profile a couple of times, and that just emphasizes her sharp chin and nose.
The screenplay is vintage Charlie Kaufman - a mix of weird humor and pathos, peculiar behavior, strange on-screen visions. But it also has a much more realistic feel than some of his other work. Then again, this kind of film just doesn't quite grab me. This was an interesting movie but it's like angel food cake. It tastes good, but will you really remember it much later?
Animals: No animals are harmed, but "If I Had a Hammer" is severely abused a couple of times.
Overall: Not a bad movie, but not really memorable, Rockwell's backside notwithstanding. Two and a half stars out of five - that half star is for Clooney getting his friends to show up.
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