THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (Maple, 2009) D: Grant Heslov, w/ George Clooney, Ewan McGregor. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNNN Rating: NNN
In 1980, visionary staff sergeant Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) is put in charge of the New Earth Army Battalion One, a top-secret U.S. Army project to develop soldiers with psychic abilities. In 2003, naive American reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) goes to Iraq hoping to cover the war. He meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a New Earth alumnus on a secret mission. Wacky adventures and wackier flashbacks ensue.
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There is comic gold in the idea of military men earnestly embracing New Age loopiness, then striving to stare goats to death. If writer Peter Straughan had stuck to that story, he might have produced a classic in the vein of Dr. Strangelove or Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. The Iraq war story is fun (not a phrase I ever expected to read, let alone write), but it feels contrived.
Even so, there’s no shortage of good comic moments thanks to Bridges, Clooney, McGregor and Kevin Spacey (the turd in Bill Django’s hot tub), who all know how to be funny by being just a little too serious.
Jon Ronson, author of the non-fiction source book, provides a smart commentary that points out facts and fictions and usefully discusses the differences in overall tone between his book and the movie.
EXTRAS Director commentary, source book author commentary, making-of doc, factual background doc, more. Widescreen. English, French audio. English, Spanish subtitles.
