The Men Who Stare at Goats

 

The Men Who Stare at Goats 2009

• Director: Grant Heslov
• Seen by this director: The Squid and the Whale
• Based on book by Jon Ronson
• Cast: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Waleed Zuaiter
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan McGregor – Doctor Sleep, Trainspotting 2, American Pastoral, Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars etc, Big Fish, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• George Clooney – Hail Caesar, Tomorrowland a World Beyond, Gravity, The Descendants, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Intolerable Cruelty, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, The Perfect Storm, O Brother Where Art Thou?
• Jeff Bridges – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Orange County, Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld
• Kevin Spacey – The Life of David Gale, The United States of Leland, The Shipping News, Play it Forward, American Beauty, Midnight in the Garden of God and Evil, LA Confidential, Seven, The Usual Suspects, Glengarry Glen Ross, Working Girl
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit, Seabiscuit, The Big Lebowski, The Fantastic Baker Boys, The Last Picture Show
• Why? The title, Ewan McGregor
• Seen: 20 September 2022      

       The title has fascinated me since the film came out, but I still have no idea what it’s about. I’m expecting an absurd comedy. Oh yes, I’m expecting a lot from the goats. I like goats, though I don’t really know any.

       It starts with, ‘More of this is true than you’d believe.’ Sounds promising.

       Journalist Bob (McGregor) goes to Iraq to report on the war where he meets Lyn (Clooney) who is a member of the super-secret unit New Earth Army, a unit that practices paranormal skills, invisibility, the ability to walk through walls and kill things by staring at them. It all started in the 80’s and the Soviets were doing it too.

       Absurd? Yes. Funny? Yes. More true than I believe? Probably. The army did some weird stuff back then, and no doubt still is.

       Clooney is at his best, McGregor is always good as a screw-up. An extra * for the soldiers calling themselves Jedi and McGregor’s character having no idea what a Jedi is. Ha ha.

       Like all good comedies it’s also sad and like all absurd tales about the military, it’s also scary.      

4* of 5    

PS It might have been 5* if it didn’t fail the Bechdel test so miserably.

PPS The goats are lovely.