The Men Who Stare At Goats
George Clooney in The Men Who Stare At Goats
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Monday, 02, Nov 2009 10:27
Directed by Grant Heslov, out November 6th in cinemas, starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, running time 93 mins.
What's it all about?
Based on Jon Ronson's bestselling non-fiction account of a secret US military unit concerned with the use of psychic and new age techniques in modern warfare, this comedic effort is an assured if insubstantial feature directorial debut from actor/writer/producer Grant Heslov. With a screenplay from British writer Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People), it's smart enough to keep its tongue firmly in cheek during a gleefully ridiculous tale of a down-at-heel reporter's (Ewan McGregor) attempt to make something of his self while uncovering a truly incredible story.
As an example.
"Lieutenant Colonel Django used funds from the project's black budget to procure prostitutes... " - Larry Hooper
"That's a lie!" - Bill Django
"... And to get drugs for himself and his men." - Larry Hooper
"That... well, the hooker thing is definitely a lie." - Bill Django
What the others say
"George Clooney dazzles and Jeff Bridges shines in a scattershot but often hilarious military farce." - Damon Wise, Empire
"With material like this, one would have liked a more incisive comedy to materialize around the decline and fall of the New Age movement." - Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter
So is it any good?
An opening disclaimer informs the viewer: "More of this is true than you would believe" but while some darkness filters into the pacey script through a brief mention of sinister interrogation and intelligence techniques, it's by and large a film that knows its greatest strength is in its absurdity.
George Clooney, in one of his three appearances at this year's London Film Festival, does hilarious work, giving his all as Special Forces operator - and former member of the so-called 'New Earth Army' - Lyn Cassady. Though hints of the mania of his Burn After Reading character Harry Pfarrer are apparent, much of the comedy of Cassady comes in his unfailing adherence to the questionable psychic dictums of the founder of the 'warrior monk' squad, Bill Django (a wonderfully mad Jeff Bridges). Though McGregor's mid-Atlantic twang grates a little through the narrative necessity of his voiceover, Heslov and Straughan do well to keep the film zipping along, speedily enough for audiences to forgive its limitations.
With an even weaker central plotline than Straughan's How to Lose Friends. script (another non-fiction source), The Men Who Stare At Goats is at heart a string of comic vignettes highlighting a cover-up both astonishing and laughable in its insanity. But, to the filmmakers' credit - and succeeding in a way that How to Lose Friends... never really did - it also never tries to exceed its shortcomings. Nods to childhood trauma or relationship crises are treated with brevity - McGregor's wife leaves him for a one-armed man - and much of the script revels in keeping an off-kilter, Coen Brothers feel to much of the dialogue.
With enthusiastic performances - Kevin Spacey is also gloriously silly as the sneering villain of the piece - some fine use of flashback from Heslov and a commendably high laugh count, it's a consistently amusing effort that proves war isn't hell - it's mindless.
7.5/10
Lewis Bazley