The Men Who Stare At Goats

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's review is The Men Who Stare at Goats. Directed by Grant Heslov. Written by Peter Straughan based on the book by  Jon Ronson.

Jon Ronson's 2004 book was a nonfiction look at the U.S. Military's effort to harness psychological manipulation as a new form of warfare. The film version chooses to go the route of fast paced comedic nuances while incorporating well timed and story moving flash backs that permit the viewer a chance to enjoy the oddity without the crippling burden of a real-world hangover.

A journalist with domestic troubles, Bob Wilton played by Ewan McGregor heads over to Iraq to cover the war, looking to challenge himself and prove his worth to his cheating wife. Needing a specialist to help cross the border, Bob meets Lyn Cassady played by the amazing George Clooney, a former super soldier of the New Earth Army (NEA), a military unit dedicated to nurturing psychic powers, under the command of new age enthusiast, Bill Django plyed by the equally amazing Jeff Bridges. Learning more about these self-proclaimed "Jedis" as they are affectionately called,
Bob is sucked into Lyn's history, learning about wondrous mental feats of strength and the bitterness of Larry Hooper played by a sour Kevin Spacey. A rival who desired his own position of leadership. Traveling into the heart of the war, Bob and Lyn bond as they dodge trouble, trusting in the ridiculous powers of the mind to help them stave off certain doom.

There was actually a pretty funny geek moment here. When Lyn is talking about the Jedi's, Bob tells Lyn that he has no idea what a Jedi is. What makes that funnier for me was that Ewan McGregor played Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, so for him to say that he has no idea what a Jedi is makes for a pretty ironic geek inside joke.

This film has a lot going for it. An all star cast filled with tremendous performances highlighted by Clooney who has an unbelievable talent for comedy. Don't believe me? Seek out one of The Coen Bros lesser lauded films called Intolerable Cruelty made in 2003. This film was in my opinion one of the Coen Brothers finest comedies made mostly possible by a gut busting performance from Clooney. OK enough about the Coen Brothers. What made TMWSAG so much more entertaining was the sharing of star power by the rest of the cast. An argument can be made that this film's cast is one of the strongest in any film this year. Aside from the name dropping the cast boasts, the other thing it has in common is the uncanny ability to be laugh out loud funny. every member has their own shining moment to make the audience smile with glee which is not an easy feat to accomplish.

The pacing of the film was a little slow at times but you don't stay bogged down long enough to lose your focus. What does drop the film down a peg or two was the final act. For some inexplicable reason they take the story into a dark territory which I gathered was an attempt to set up a redemption arc on the narrative. Suddenly TMWSAG shifts out of being a comedic re-creation of actual events and turns into a conventional comedy where the villain gets his comeuppance and the hero finds his true destiny. Basically, it stops being something we've never seen before and turns into a movie we've seen a million times which was unfortunate because this movie was breaking a formulaic hollywood mold which was refreshing only to have it resort back to the same old tricks before the end credits.

Overall, The Men Who Stare at Goats was a fresh entertaining film with truly fantastic performances by the rank and file. Sadly it ends with a very familiar hollywood stink.

On the 5 star scale. The Men Who Stare at Goats gets 3 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation.

Up next Precious. I have been looking forward to this one ever since I saw the sundance trailer months ago.

Until Next Episode....."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"