Directed by:<\/b> Grant Heslov
\nStarring:<\/b> Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
\nRated:<\/b> R for language, some drug content and brief nudity.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Men Who Stare At Goats\u201d is based on a true story. However, rather
\nthan the standard title card to tell us so, it has one which reads
\nsimply, \u201cMore of this is true than you would believe.\u201d Having heard a
\nfew interviews with the author of the book that provided the basis for
\nthe film, I have to agree. This is a strange movie about a strange
\nseries of events, and fans of absurdist comedy must not miss it.
\nReporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, bravely attempting an American
\naccent) has nothing to lose. His wife has left him for his editor, so he
\ndecides to prove himself by going to Iraq, where the first Gulf War is
\nbeginning to rage. While in Kuwait awaiting permission to cross the
\nborder, he meets Lyn \u201cSkip\u201d Cassady (George Clooney), who was described
\nby the local looney back home as one of the greatest psychic talents in
\na now-defunct government program called the New Earth Army. Lyn is
\nheading into Iraq, so Bob asks to tag along and write up Lyn’s story.
\nThe man agrees, and the two head off into the desert.
\nThe story Lyn tells as he drives the two of them toward the war is an
\nincredible one, but Clooney plays Lyn so straight it’s hard not to
\nbelieve him. The government, he says, used to have a unit devoted to
\ncreating \u201cJedi warriors\u201d — soldiers able to spy at a distance, defend
\nthemselves without weapons, and walk through walls. The head of this
\nprogram was Bill Django (Jeff Bridges, essentially playing a smarter
\nversion of The Dude from \u201cThe Big Lebowsky\u201d), a Vietnam vet who, after a
\nvision on the battlefield, dove into new age materials and essentially
\nturned into a soldier hippie.
\nBob’s adventures in the desert with Lyn and the history of Bill’s unit
\nare interwoven until both come to a head out in the middle of nowhere in
\nIraq. Old friends are reunited, old enemies face off once again, and Bob
\ngets his story. Whether the New Earth Army soldiers actually have
\nsuperpowers is an argument the film doesn’t seem to take sides on. Sure,
\none of them once killed a goat by staring at it for three hours (or at
\nleast, the goat dropped dead while being stared at), but most of their
\napparent abilities can be explained away with coincidence.
\nBut that’s not the point. What matters isn’t whether they could actually
\ndo any of those things; what matters is that they thought they could if
\nthey trained properly, and acted accordingly. The film simply presents
\nthe events and allows us to see the hilarity of them.
\n\u201cThe Men Who Stare At Goats\u201d is not a perfect film, but when it comes to
\nthe comedy of the absurd, it has it down pat. How else can we react but
\nwith laughter at the sight of a high-ranking Army officer sprinting
\nheadlong into a wall and bouncing off it when his training under a
\nlong-haired acid tripper fails him? This isn’t an easy film to do
\njustice to with a short review. If you have a taste for the bizarre,
\ndon’t miss it — but if you like your movies straightforward and your
\ncomedy simple and shallow, go elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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