Movie Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats

by Justin Velasquez
November 10, 2009

From the title this film looks to be one of the more interesting films out in release.  And judging by the impressive cast it also looks like a must-see film.  Upon seeing The Men Who Stare at Goats, what you get is a quirky adventure full of humor, originality, strong acting and lots of goats.

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge) is looking for a big story, one that can help him rise from obscurity and into the ranks of great journalists.  Bob is almost forced into the situation when his wife leaves him for his one-armed boss.  At one time content at writing puff pieces for an Ann Arbor newspaper, Bob reassesses his current situation and looks to get out into the world. 

His search leads him to the Middle East where he meets and befriends Lyn Cassady (Academy Award winner George Clooney), a man who claims that he's a member of a top-secret U.S. military team.  This team deals in the paranormal as its members are able to use psychic abilities to determine locations of enemies and allies, can walk through walls, become invisible, and... kill a goat simply by staring at it.  These outrageous assertions seem farfetched and ludicrous but Bob is oddly drawn to the mysterious Lyn and hastily accompanies the "Jedi" on his secret mission.  The mission seems simple enough - find and recover Bill Django (Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges), mentor to Lyn and founder of the U.S. military's New Earth Army.

Their journey takes them across the Middle East where the pair finds Bill at a camp belonging to a private company.  This private company is full of psychic super soldiers that Bob thought Lyn had made up.  Its leader is an old rival who trained with Lyn in the New Earth Army.  This rival, Larry Hooper (two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey), is the antithesis of Lyn and he wants to use his psychic powers to fight and kill the enemy.  Larry's maxim goes against the ideas that Bill preached in the New Earth Army and that Lyn practices.  These differing ideologies cause a rift in the camp and it's up to Bob to save Lyn, Bill and himself.

Goats seems to be a parody of spirituality and all things existential.  But at the same time the film embraces the beauty of oddity and the need to be accepted.  Bob Wilton is, for all intents and purposes, a normal man.  But he admittedly feels like an outsider and felt he was different from everyone else.  When he meets Lyn he sees another outsider, someone who is the same as him because he is different.  The extreme oddity of Lyn's past and present is intriguing and unlike anything that Bob has witnessed and because of that he is getting more than just a story, he's receiving a lesson.  Thanks to Lyn and Bill, Bob is able to harness the fledgling psychic powers that he has within.  No longer is this a part of his job, it's now a voyage of self-discovery for a man who has lost his way.

As much as one would like to believe that The Men Who Stare at Goats is a work of fiction, the film is based on a non-fiction book written by Jon Ronson.  Goats is directed by Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck) while the screenplay is written by Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People).  Heslov is able to present the film in a way that pokes fun of these bizarre events but manages to endear its characters and its underlying message. 

The acting is top notch, and it should be considering the cast.  McGregor does a great job of playing the straight man while Clooney gets to play an outrageous, yet still charismatic individual.  Bridges conjures up a past character from The Big Lebowski and channels it into Django.  Bridges plays stoners well, almost too well, but at least here Django is more alert and much less aloof than his Dude character of 11 years ago.  Regardless, Bridges is hilarious and provides the film with much of the humor.  Spacey has possibly the film's toughest role since he's played villains much more sinister than Larry Hooper.  But this isn't the most serious film and possibly the only thing he's guilty of is sporting a bad moustache. 

The Men Who Stare at Goats is an interesting entry into the action-comedy and carries with it an original story.  At points the film drags and it may be tough to get past the fact that it's a piece of non-fiction, but nonetheless this film is enjoyable.  At the least it's amazing to learn the lengths to which the military will go in order to successfully combat its enemies. 

Three Stars Out Of Four