The MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

“THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS” (George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges & Kevin Spacey)

From the title alone you knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary film... & it isn’t.
It is funny, it is well acted & above all, it is very original & I wanted to love it because of all that, but I can only say that I liked it an awful lot. I don’t know if it was the jumping back in forth in time that kept it from being great, or the mere fact that, even though it is supposedly based on a true story, it was still just a little too bombastic to swallow. It was almost as if the characters were being too serious to be taken seriously.
I have absolutely no complaints about George Clooney’s performance as Lyn Cassady; George was clearly the best part of the film. Jeff Bridges as Bill Django was funny, but not very broad; one wayward critic said he was channeling ‘the Big Lebowski’ – which was ridiculous because ‘Dude’ didn’t care about anything & Bill was one determined hippy officer whose sole purpose in life was to create an army of psychic soldiers – he may have looked like an older version of the Dude, but the characters had very little in common. Ewan McGregor may be the reason why it didn’t click on all cylinders; it is his character that narrates & ‘experiences’ the mayhem that leads to the grand finale. Though I can’t say as I felt that way while watching the movie – he seemed to do ‘okay’ as reporter Bob Wilton who miraculously meets up with Lyn after hearing his name from a discharged nutjob in his hometown. & finally, Kevin Spacey comes into the story late & doesn’t bring that boffo moment that I was hoping for. It was fun to see Kevin playing someone quirky again, but I was disappointed that he wasn’t given better lines.
Even though I laughed quite frequently (A 37 on my laugh-meter) I got a kick out of the premise & I thoroughly enjoyed myself for an hour & a half – something intangible was missing & just can’t put my finger on it (Other than McGregor may not have been the right choice to play the reporter)
The story bounces between the time when Bill Django gets shot in Vietnam (because his platoon doesn’t want to chance hitting someone when they fire their rifles) & his creation of a special forces squad of ‘psychic soldiers’ & present day Iraq where McGregor’s Bob meets Clooney’s Lyn.
Props to the make-up department in making George appear several years younger than his actual age during the flashback sequences as they show his development in Bill’s Psychic army. One of the exercises is to stare at goats & try to make their hearts stop; which Lyn explains he didn’t want to kill a goat with his mind, but he gave it his best shot because he was curious to see if he COULD actually do it.
In one scene, an officer gets up from being the desk in his office & runs full force into the wall. Pardon the bad pun, but that scene falls flat on its face. Maybe it was just that one moment that spoiled this film just enough to keep it from being #2 or #3.
Still, I encourage you to see it because it should make you laugh several times & it is very original – I doubt that you’ll get bored. You may walk out shaking your head wondering, “What in the hell was THAT all about?” – but I still think you’ll feel you were entertained.
Getting kidnapped, escaping, being rescued by idiots, escaping from their rescuers & discovering the Psychic army still exists are all humorously written scenes from the Iraq portion of the plot, but somehow it didn’t quite jibe for me... that mysterious missing link that kept it from gelling. It’s still one of the best movies I’ve seen in this very weak year,
but it had the potential to be #1 & it isn’t...