Went to saw this yesterday to relax. Had more fun just talking to my friends.

Let's start with the good:

1. Sam Rockwell is great as Chuck Barris, managing to toe the ilne between slimy, pathetic, and magnetic.

2. George Clooney does an interesting job directing, and we get some creative choices.

3. Great to see Rutger Hauer.

4. The stuff focusing on the game show is laugh-out-loud hilarious (the surprise cameos, the Gong Show acts, even a nice return to the most infamous game show quip ever).

5. I guess it does get you to think at times.

BAD
1. Julia Roberts is annoyingly miscast. Drew Barrymore and George Clooney are okay, but basically play stereotypes.

2. The movie's inability to find a tone and stick with it ensures that the ending (the last 1/3, actually) lacks dramatic punch. I didn't care about Barris' romantic problems. I didn't care about his moral dilemma.

3. I guess I didn't expect from the previews that the movie would focus on Barris' sex life as much, but I didn't find it necessary.

4. Clooney sometimes plays "the arty game" with the camera, doing unnecessarily weird camera angles for no reason.

GREAT LINE
"On your date to...West Berlin!"

I saw this movie on Friday (sort of an earyl Birthday gift to myself) and I have to say I agree with Mike on everything but the Bad parts. I actually did care, although I think it's obvious from certain things we see that the Director and Writer think Barris is either totally full of it, or actually THINKS he's not when he is. Apparenytly Barris didn't realize this during his visits to the set. I thought it was masterfully done, and this is the best performance so far of Rockwell's career (although his part in Galaxy Quest was more than memorable. ). Too bad the trailers before the movie started all looked dumb. Let's run down the roster shall we?

Tears of the Sun: Yet another Bruce Willis war movie. It's basiclaly Hart's War in modern day Nigeria. Bright Spot: Aamon Walker (Kareem Said on Oz) is going to be in it.

The Guru: Rental material. Marisa Tomei and Christine Baranski's lines in the trailer weren't funny which doesn't bode for these two normally funny people.

View From The Top: I'm begining to wonder, did Gwenyth Paltrow take a nasty blow to the head during the filming of Bounce or something? Because this flick has "dumb career move" written ALL OVER IT! I'd rather watch Shallow Hal again. Ick. Kelly Preston's cleavage on the other hand...

Part of the problem is that I recently saw Adaptation (a far superior film that looks at a lot of the same issues), which is also written by Charlie Kaufman, so a lot of it seemed like deja vu.

Well I haven't seen Adaptation yet so I guess I had an advantage. And I'll probably not see it until the DVD release. My next two planned movie trips are for Shanghai Knights and Daredevil.