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© 2009 BBC Films
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
Movies:
Movie Review: 'THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS'
A surprisingly sweet film about a government covert ops program with an unusual agenda, starring George Clooney as a believer and Ewan McGregor as the skeptical reporter caught up in his trajectory
Grade: B+Stars: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Writer(s): Peter Straughan, “inspired by” the book by Jon Ronson
Director: Grant Heslov
Release Date: November 6th, 2009
Rating: R
Distributor: Overture Films
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN, Contributing Writer
Published 11/6/2009
To get this out of the way fast, unlikely as it may sound, a number of governments (including the U.S.), really have had divisions devoted to “remote viewing” and related subjects. “Remote viewing” refers to psychically (and accurately) visualizing a location not physically known to the viewer; related subjects include telepathically disrupting electronic activity, making psychic suggestions and being able to kill a living being by staring at it – the test subjects on this last were goats, hence the title.
Jon Ronson wrote a book on the topic. The film THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS has an “inspired by” (rather than the more common “based on”) credit at the start and a complicated disclaimer at the end. What it all adds up to is that writer Peter Straughan and director Grant Heslov have taken the idea and use it as the source for a lot of wry black comedy fun that, despite all odds, is surprisingly sweet and humane.
In 2002, Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a reporter for a local paper in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who interviews an apparently loony local (Stephen Root, very funny and creepy) who rambles on about psychic warfare and mentions the name Lyn Cassidy. Bob thinks nothing of this until he comes unraveled when his marriage dissolves. In a frenzy of desperation to prove himself to his ex (and himself), he heads for Iraq to do some war correspondence. However, with no official permission to enter the war zone, Bob finds himself stuck in Kuwait, where he by chance (or is it fate?) encounters Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney). Bob remembers the name and says exactly enough for Lyn to drag him into Iraq on a “mission” that Lyn won’t divulge. As they drive through the desert, with all its attendant dangers – including Lyn’s penchant for not watching the road – Bob learns of the origins of the NewEarth Army, the brainchild of one Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), who convinced the military to let him assemble a group of apparently talented psychics and try to come up with ways of controlling the enemy without having to shoot.
Drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (sex seems prevalent but not motivating) are a big part of Django’s free-wheeling operating structure. We gradually learn exactly where Lyn feels he fits into the scheme of things, seeing all this through Bob’s partly terrified, partly impressed, partly doubting point of view.
While the subject matter is different, in some ways, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS feels like a modern retread of M*A*S*H*, with its deadpan comedy about the clash between notions of military procedure and the reality of what’s happening on the ground, which gets particularly crazy here. Almost every event, except for those where the putative psychics really screw up, can be read in a variety of ways, but the film has a generosity of spirit towards its true believers like Lyn. It also doesn’t condemn Bob for being in a state of outright panic much of the time, given that most of us would be right there with him.
Clooney finds a wonderful borderline between assured knowledge and over-enthusiastic oddball and plants himself there solidly. McGregor is swell as Bob, giving us a man capable of being mightily fretful, yet also able to rise to the occasion. It’s a mixture of coming of age (which can happen at any point in life) and Sancho Panza, which he pulls of perfectly. It must be mentioned that there’s an awful lot of talk about “Jedi warriors” (re: STAR WARS), which gets its start with Django’s program in the ‘80s flashbacks. However, when other characters talk to Bob about being a Jedi warrior, the fourth wall shudders a bit with the fact that McGregor has, not too long ago and not so far away, been freaking Obi-Wan Kenobi. The movie doesn’t try to wink at this, but it’s hard to ignore.
Bridges is in full Dude mode as the hard-to-rattle, playful Django, and Kevin Spacey brings lively snarkiness to a soldier who wants the psychic program to go in a different direction.
For animal lovers in the audience, despite the object of the title enterprise, it should be said that THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is, among other things, pro-goat. It’s also pro-humanist and mainly pro-wry humor. It is, in several senses of the word, a good trip.
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