Michelle Sweeney Movies

Chuck Barris is best known to most Americans as the guy who used to host The Gong Show. He was also the creator and producer of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and a handful of other successful game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. But was he also a hired killer working with the CIA? That's the take-it-or-leave-it premise of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the memoir of the same name by Chuck Barris. Barris (Sam Rockwell) grows up dreaming of success in show biz and winning the hearts of beautiful women, but early on, he meets with plenty of resistance from both women and the television industry, despite writing the hit tune "Palisades Park" and scoring a job with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. The 1960s proves more fortunate for Barris; he meets the love of his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore), and sells ABC on the idea of The Dating Game. However, after the show has made him wealthy and successful, Barris is approached by the mysterious Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA agent who wants to recruit Barris as a covert operative. Barris finds the notion of playing spy games intriguing and agrees, but soon discovers what Byrd and his partners really want is for Barris to assassinate uncooperative figures around the world. Soon, Barris finds that his life has been all but taken over by Byrd and another CIA agent, the mysterious and sexy Patricia (Julia Roberts). As he hops the globe, killing people in the name of American security (using his status as a Dating Game chaperone as a cover), Barris learns that the KGB has discovered his not-so-little secret and that his own life is in great danger. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind marked the directorial debut of actor George Clooney, working from a screenplay adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' book. Dick Clark, Dating Game host Jim Lange, frequent Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan, and Gene Gene Patton appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This Canadian drama from director Cynthia Scott centers on eight elderly women strangers who find themselves depending on each other and becoming fast friends when they're suddenly stranded in the rural countryside. Traveling through a largely uninhabited area, the ladies' bus breaks down and, as they await help, they are forced to fend for themselves. Finding refuge in a rustic and empty farmhouse, the women begin talking and eventually share many of their life experiences and memories with each other, forming an indelible bond. In an attempt to create an air of reality and spontaneity, Scott used a nonprofessional cast and encouraged improvised dialogue. Strangers in Good Company was nominated for several honors at Canada's 1991 Genie Awards, ultimately winning the prize for Best Editing. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

A young mother and her daughter end up on the streets in this grim made-for-television movie. Mare Winningham stars as Theresa Johnson, a young mother whose life falls apart when she finds herself suddenly single, unemployed and homeless. With nowhere to turn, Theresa and her daughter Hillary (Grace Johnston) drift through the social system, wandering from shelter to shelter with little hope for the future. Gripping in its portrayal of the cycle of poverty, the film offers no simple solutions -- much like real life. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi