The Men Who Stare at Goats

Movie Review

Nov 8, 2009 Gil Mansergh

Grant Heslov is unwisely given the director's chair for "The Men Who Stare at Goats," an anti-war farce starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and Jeff Bridges.

George Clooney’s pal Grant Heslov is unwisely given the director’s chair for The Men Who Stare at Goats, an anti-war farce starring Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey that wanted to be a comedy but sputters and dies instead.

Big Problems

Based Jon Ronson's satirical book, the basic problem is that The Men Who Stare at Goats is two or three different movies stitched together by a voice-over narrative. The narrator is Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) a Michigan journalist looking for a big story so he can win his estranged wife back. Bob doesn’t realize he has stumbled over something when he interviews Gus Lacey, (Stephen Root) a local man who sounds crazy as he talks about a Psychic Warrior army buddy named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who trains to walk through walls and can stop computers with his mind.

Later, when the 2nd Iraq war begins, Bob can’t get permission to cross into Iraq and gets stuck in Kuwait City. By accident, the guy at the hotel bar wears the name tag “Lyn Cassady.” “Say,” Bob innocently asks, “do you know Gus Lacey?” Instantly, Bob’s life changes forever as Lyn bolts from the table and Bob follows in hot pursuit.

The Buddy Movie

Just as suddenly, we are in a different movie. A dry, dusty, dangerous movie where kidnappers, terrorists, sleep-deprived prisoners and trigger-happy American contractors should scare the stuffing out of the audience, but instead are set up as straight guys for two buddies in a “Bob and Lyn” vaudeville sketch.

And in the middle of this “buddy” movie we have a third film, told in flashbacks, about the Army’s super secret Psychic Warrior unit headed by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) who convinced his superiors that he should study alternative, New Age ways of motivating soldiers. Given paid leave to do this study, Django headed to California (where else)—first to Santa Rosa for nude hot tub soaks, then Sacramento for alfresco dance therapy, and Monterey for high colonic enemas.

The Strongest Scenes

The clever and well directed flashbacks of Django’s New Earth Army in training are the best parts of the movie and make the other segments feel weak and illogical by comparison.

Sadly, the movie's most effective scenes were never intended to draw the reaction from an audience that they do. Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), plays a disagreeable character who is jealous of Bill Djangos's charisma and Lyn Cassady's psychic talents. To discredit the New Earth Army, Hooper adds LSD to a new recruit's drink. During a bad trip, the recruit strips naked and marches out into the parade grounds firing his military issue automatic. Soldiers flee and some fall in a scene too much like Fort Hood to be in a so-called comedy.

The copyright of the article The Men Who Stare at Goats in Film Dramas is owned by Gil Mansergh. Permission to republish The Men Who Stare at Goats in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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