THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS directed by Grant Heslov, screenplay by Peter Straughan based on the book by Jon Ronson, with George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. A Maple Pictures release. 92 minutes. Opens Friday (November 6). For venues, times and trailers, see Movies. Rating: NNN
George Clooney’s long-time filmmaking partner, Grant Heslov, makes his directorial debut with this wobbly comedy.[rssbreak]
It folds stories from Jon Ronson’s excellent book about the parapsychological research programs of the U.S. military into a buddy comedy about a reporter (Ewan McGregor) who follows a former psy-ops soldier (Clooney) into post-invasion Iraq.
Clooney and McGregor have appealing chemistry, and the film’s first half has a fine time goofing around with the preposterous material from Ronson’s book, told here as flashbacks to the creation of the First Earth Battalion in the 1970s by an enlightened, Lebowski-like Jeff Bridges.
But the second half – which adds Kevin Spacey as a sneering villain, gives Clooney’s character a creaky redemption quest and tries to make serious points about the “dark side” of psychological tactics – feels increasingly forced.
