Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Confessions lives up to its first class pedigree. Scenes cut between garishly colorful game show sets, the icy streets of cities behind the Iron Curtain that are interspersed with shots of Barris's squalid Philadelphia beginnings and, finally, his lavish Hollywood success. It's a jarring juxtaposition, made all the more unsettling by the fact that Barris champions feel-good, tacky television fare while covertly going on missions to kill Russian spies in dark alleys. The film delves heavily into adult themes related to sex and relationships, and his participation in contract killings is depicted graphically and hauntingly --never without some attention to the cost to the character's psyche and his relationships to others. Parents will be intrigued but should think twice about watching with kids.