[Movie 291 / Day 310]
Based on real-life events, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is the story of journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) who, on the breakup of his marriage, has gone to Iraq to lose himself in some good old fashioned war coverage. While waiting for permission to cross the border into Iraq, he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) and learns about the existence of a division of the army that, in the 1970s, were tasked with creating a supersoldier, a soldier that has harnessed the power of the mind and is able to do amazing things (including stopping the heart of a goat by staring at it).
He accompanies Cassady on a trip into the Iraq desert to find the LSD-addled brains behind the First Earth Battalion, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), who is missing. In the process, they stumble upon a camp of paranormal soldiers being led by the soldier responsible for the demise of the original programme, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey).
The movie is good fun for the first two thirds, but unfortunately loses pace during the third act and feels a little weak by the end. Having said that, when the laughs are flowing (mostly at the hands of Clooney, playing the psychic soldier to McGregor’s disbelieving straight-man), they are solid. Jeff Bridges seems to be playing The Dude-lite, which is no bad thing. The direction is straight from the school of Coen and it suits the farcical nature of the story well.
It’s just a pity about that ending.
Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 7.3 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 93 mins ]