Today’s quick review: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) heads to Iraq in search of a story and finds Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), an eccentric ex-soldier with alleged psychic powers. Lyn was a veteran of the New Earth Army, a military research project led by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) to unlock the mind’s true potential. As the two men roam around Iraq, Bob must decide whether Lyn’s story is ridiculous or profound.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a political satire that mashes up the War on Terror and New Age mysticism. The movie delves into the past of the New Earth Army through a series of flashbacks, chronicling its conception, its early experiments, and its ultimate fate. The New Earth Army embodies a quixotic dream of spiritual, non-lethal warfare that makes a stark contrast with the mission and ethos of the military.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a comedy that runs on low-grade irony. Everything in the film is dysfunctional at some level: Lyn’s dubious psychic abilities, Bob’s aimless journalistic ambitions, or the ineptitude shown by the US military and its contractors. The humor never quite rises to the level of overt jokes, instead walking a fine line between the absurd and the uncomfortably plausible.
The attempted comedy shows potential but never quite hits its mark. The jokes are never absurd or biting enough to make a lasting impression. The emotional spine of the film is Bob’s fluctuating belief and disbelief in Lyn, but it lacks the conviction needed to cut through the layers of irony and give the audience something to cling to. The plot itself is meandering, uneventful, and ultimately pointless.
The movie does assemble an impressive cast, including Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey. Clooney and McGregor do fine with their characters, but the only standout performance is Jeff Bridges as Bill Django, the tranquil hippy behind the New Earth Army. The other roles suffer from the same issues as the rest of the film: amusing, half-baked ideas without a reliable center to tie them together.
The Men Who Stare at Goats offers some value as a sideways look at war and as a vessel for four talented actors, but it lacks something essential at its core: a sense of purpose. Most viewers would do better to give it a miss. For a movie that nails the blend of humor, idealism, and irony attempted here, check out The Grand Budapest Hotel. Those interested in a slightly more serious satire about the War on Terror may want to check out Three Kings.
6.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for a few novel ideas that amount to little.