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Bookmark this pageThe Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
Director: Grant Heslov
Movie review
From Time Out London
During the Bush era, it was pretty hard to make a military comedy. The armed forces tended to be presented as either noble or amoral but seldom as clowns. ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ is refreshing, then, for its knockabout approach to martial matters; its problems lie with its lackadaisical approach to narrative and structure.The film is a dramatised version of Jon Ronson’s non-fiction book about a small pocket of the US Army given licence to experiment with non-violent and paranormal approaches to conflict resolution. American journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) arrives in Kuwait in 2003 with a broken heart and something to prove. Stumbling upon Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), whom he recognises as having been involved in the so-called First Earth Battalion, he finds himself on what could well be a wild goose- (or goat-) chase inside post-Saddam Iraq. Meanwhile, he fills us in on the battalion’s history, from its instigation by Nam vet-turned-hippy visionary Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) to its undoing by bitter psy-op Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey).
There’s plenty to enjoy in the film’s outré set-pieces, insouciant tone and playful performances: Clooney keeps us guessing about Cassady’s abilities (and sanity) and Bridges gets to deliver lines like: ‘I’m your commanding officer and I’m ordering you to let out the dance!’ There’s also a running joke about Jedi warriors that bounces nicely off McGregor’s ‘Star Wars’ pedigree. But the film hedges its claims to veracity (‘more of this is true than you would believe’, indeed) and fails to make its characters or narrative dramatically compelling. The result feels less like a transcendental breakthrough than a bit of conjuring misdirection. Fun trick, though.
Author: Ben Walters
Time Out London Issue 2046: 5-11 November, 2009
User reviews of this film
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- Ellie G and Katie J said...
- Posted on Nov 22 2009 15:19 I agree dad lol xx
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- usman khawaja said...
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Posted on Nov 20 2009 15:21
I HAVE TO ADMIT I ADORE TIMEOUT FOR IT'S FREEDOM OF EXCHANGE OF OPINIONS -AND I SUPPOSE THE CREDIT GOES TO DAVE FOR THAT -HE IS A VERY NICE BLOKE AND DEFINITELY MOODY BUT EFFICIENT TOO -
yet what was this MOVIE about -
u.s .army is training monk warriors who are psychics and can go through walls and kill poor goats by staring at them -
ewan -the non actor-plays a journalist investigating the special unit that kills goats -
clooney plays just himself which is an egomaniac who is an army psychic jedi on special mission in iraq-
jeff bridges is big lebowski except here he is only playing SMALL lebowski -
spacey seems to be a kindergarten kid as the head of the team -
they take amphetamines -kill and shoot iraqis and goats -
and this is funny, meant to be a satire or dark humour but it is really a monotonous movie with no intelligence or entertainment value pretending to be an art flick -i was really surprised TO SEE IT IS NOT BY COEN BROTHERS -THEY WOULD LOVE TO MAKE THIS AND EVERYONE WILL GO GAGA OVER IT AND GIVE IT AN OSCAR TOO -ENOUGH SAID - Report as inappropriate
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- Jeff said...
- Posted on Nov 17 2009 16:55 Rather unusual film. There were a couple of wildly amusing moments but over all it was a little disappointing. Glad I saw it, but I believe so much more could have been done with it.
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- Josh Waldron said...
- Posted on Nov 17 2009 16:41 CRAP!
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- Jimmy said...
- Posted on Nov 17 2009 12:54 Very positive film, very well acted and plenty of clever scenes
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- Naomi said...
- Posted on Nov 12 2009 16:04 Beyond dull
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- lianne said...
- Posted on Nov 12 2009 13:39 A really dry film with funny scenes few and far between the deeply unfunny script is only held up because of the star actors they have playing the characters with George Clooney, Ewan Magregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey but even these deeply talented actors cannot save this movie with each joke becoming even more strained the low brow American humour just leaves you irritated as you leave the cinema with an ending that leaves you as frustrated as confused, if you are going to see a movie don’t pick this one your money can be spent in better ways.
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- Alan said...
- Posted on Nov 09 2009 09:06 Very, very dull. My friend and I were so disengaged we walked out after an hour, the first time I've left a film early in twenty years. I was so disappointed since as far as I'm concerned George Clooney never makes a bad film.
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- Paul said...
- Posted on Nov 07 2009 22:31 Despite the hype and positive press I would summarise this film as pathetic, and limp American humour or humor. I am sure if your joke bar is low, this will limbo below it. Not often I want a film to end soon, but this was one of them, and the ending was feeble. One for the discount bin at the supermarket.
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Cast & crew
Director: Grant Heslov
Cast: George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey
Genre(s): Comedy
Rated: 15
Duration: 90 mins
UK Release: Nov 6 2009
US Release: Nov 6 2009
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