Men Who Stare At Goats, The (2009) [Blu-ray]
Comedy | War

In this comedic look at real life events that are almost too bizarre to believe, reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) discovers an experimental top-secret wing of the U.S. military called The New Earth Army, trained to change the ways wars are fought through New Age psychic power. In search of his next big story, Wilton tracks down Lyn Cassady (Academy Award winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be a member of this legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers who can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it.

Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post states "Grant Heslov's wild comedy is a delicious and funny trip through the powers of the mind - and the powers of suggestion."

Inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction bestseller of the same name, this is an eye-opening and hilarious story of the government's attempts to harness soldiers' paranormal abilities in order to combat its enemies. Also stars Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges.

User Comment: pete-wiley from Always everywhere, never somewhere, 10 November 2009 • Watching Grant Heslov's "The Men Who Stare at Goats" was tantamount to staring at a stick of dynamite - for 93 minutes - that never exploded. All the critical mass of a quirky, eccentric comedy (i.e., an able cast, a political pseudo-relevance) seemed to be undercut by clunky writing, tacky 'Watch people fall down, get run over, and laugh' stunts, and a painfully disjointed plot which can barely be deemed a plot at all. Rather, the movie featured more of a direction: an ill-defined, ill-conceived mission toward which two characters (Clooney's Lyn Cassady and McGregor's Bob Wilton) floated. The problem with the loose plot development, in this case, is that Clooney's chemistry with McGregor feels forced and their connection in the film equally contrived. The film was peppered with flashback (to which Bridges and Spacey owe the majority of their on-screen time) which jettisoned any chance the viewer had with feeling an investment toward the central story or its characters. In fact, the film stumbles from character to character so often that the viewer is caught juggling them under the central story arc -- and we never really care about most of them in the first place.

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" allows for some laughs and some admirable situational ironies. But don't expect the brilliance and subtlety of "The Big Lebowski" or "American Beauty."

Summary: Quirky Premise, Clunky Execution.

[CSW] -2- The movie was based too much on actual programs and events that I was already aware of, thus I had a hard time finding the humor in these close to real events. Even though they fictionalized or exaggerated parts to make a better movie it somehow made me feel like it would be somewhat like laughing at the handicapped.

º º