Review

When he wasn't corrupting American minds with his lowbrow, pre-reality fare like "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show," Chuck Barris (Rockwell) was a CIA-trained assassin, responsible for over 30 murders in the name of the United States. Or so he'd have you believe, in this biographical-in-spirit adaptation of Barris' own 1982 "unauthorized autobiography." Opening on a despondent Barris in his trashed hotel room, this unusually absorbing comedy flashes back to follow his rise to game show fame in the '70s, his trips abroad to take down Communists and work with femmes fatale (including the sultry Patricia, played by Roberts), and subsequent fall at the hands of cancellation. Barris' self-loathing, professional doubt and aimless philandering are played to poignantly comic effect, aided by Rockwell's completely immersive performance. Barrymore is heartbreakingly delightful as his free-spirited yet devoted girlfriend Penny, while Clooney nicely downplays his role as the CIA recruiter. Also acting as director, Clooney, seemingly inspired by the Coen brothers, throws in everything but the kitchen sink while emphasizing the comedy. Each frame is perfect (the storyboards must be breathtaking), but the cumulative effect is of slight overdirection. Leave it to screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation) to expertly adapt this mixture of life and fiction, and to make the product actually more linear, coherent and ultimately compelling than the original.