The Men Who Stare at Goats Cinema Review

This is a weak, not-very-funny satire on all things ‘new age’ and the wilder excesses of the U.S. military. Cub reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles on what seems an extraordinary tale – back in the eighties the U.S. military created an elite corps of warrior monks – the New Earth Army - equipped to wage psychic was against the enemy. Not being able to impress his editor, and simultaneously losing his wife to him, he decides on the only course available to restore his professional and personal self-esteem, become a war reporter. So Bob goes off to Kuwait where he hangs around trying to gain access to the new war in Iraq. And who should he meet in the hotel bar? Why, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), one of the said psychic warriors, now re-activated.

Into Iraq we intrude, and wacky adventures follow. Cassady’s mission is to find Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), the original founder of the New Earth Army. His position has been usurped by bad-apple Larry Hopper (Kevin Spacey).

Even if the whole thing is rooted in some historical fact, the repeated use of voice-over points to the film’s structure being insufficient to tell the tale persuasively, and a final scene depicting everyone tripping on acid is clutching at straws. There are a couple of good movie in-jokes, but for a comedy it’s not funny enough, often enough, and for an expose, it’s not sufficiently pointed. You cannot assume an audience will like your film just because they agree with your politics.

McGregor looks suitably bewildered, Clooney revisits some of his expressions from Oh Brother, Where art Thou?, Bridges looks good with a plait; Spacey is under-used. Dr Strangelove, this is not. Underwhelming.