The Virginia Informer

Last Updated:11/17/09 Section: Movie Reviews

Doubters might view The Men Who Stare at Goats as an attempt by Hollywood's top brass to partake in some self-deprecating humor. They're half right.

Using the early stages of the Iraq War as a backdrop, Goats begins as an earnest young reporter named Robert Wilton (Ewan McGregor) finds himself running dry on material and without a wife. Seeking a new sense of direction in his career, Wilton winds up in Kuwait, where he befriends Sgt. Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney). Cassidy, a former operative in an elite shadow unit called the New Earth Army, senses a connection between himself and Wilton, and enlists the na've journalist to help him complete his "mission," whatever that is.

Along the way, flashbacks reveal the history of the New Earth Army, a unit that fights insurgents using peace, love, and other hippie nonsense. Unit leader Bill Django (Jeff Bridges in all of his Dude-ness) quickly takes a liking to Cassidy, while fellow psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) earns the scorn of his mates for his attempts to undermine Django's leadership. Wilton's out to make a career, but along the way he dives headfirst into Django's wacky philosophy and probably comes out a better man for it. While psychedelic drugs probably play too much of a role in Django's methods for Army standards, his unit takes a liking to him, and Cassidy even appears to view him as a father figure of sorts.

Goats doesn't attempt to take itself too seriously, and that helps carry the movie through all 90 minutes. Despite the reserved stoicism in Cassidy's character, it's clear that Clooney's having a ball, flexing his comedic gifts in a rare lighthearted role. McGregor manages to find a sense of humor next to his American accent, and Spacey plays an insecure dick with remarkable gusto. Bridges's star, however, shines the brightest as he convinces the Army's top officers that psychic soldiers are as American as apple pie.

For a movie that markets itself heavily on the outlandish concept that a United States Army officer can stare into the corneas of a certain Capra hircus only to watch it explode or tumble to its doom, the goats in question don't really exhibit much of a screen presence. And that's just fine, because the goat killing serves a greater purpose. Granted, I have no clue what that purpose is, but it probably has to do with the idea that life is short and that we should all act on our destiny, whatever that may be. The far-fetched-ness of everything makes the (relatively few) points the movie has to make a bit more apparent. Besides, it's funny regardless.

3 out of 5

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