Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003)

The producer of ''The Dating Game'' and ''The Gong Show'' was also a contract killer for the CIA. Or so Chuck Barris claimed in his ''unauthorized autobiography,'' on which George Clooney's directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, is based. But whether grand delusion or audacious put-on, Barris' double life is compulsively watchable -- especially during his missions abroad, with his mystery-lady contact (Julia Roberts). Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (''Adaptation'') has conceived the foreign intrigue as a sleek, sardonic spy spoof, and Clooney improves the joke by playing it deadpan straight. Still, the film goes a little flat at the end when you realize that they've never really gotten inside that so-called dangerous noggin. EXTRAS The banter between Clooney and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel makes for an amusing (and informative) commentary; the deleted scenes that shouldn't have been include Barris' first botched hit and girlfriend Drew Barrymore's suicide attempt -- their inclusion might have helped ''Confessions'' ring a little truer.