Bridges, Clooney have quirky fun with 'Goats'

by Jase Howell

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” sounds like a peculiar title for a film, and yet the title suits the film considering much of it plays a little strange and askew.

The military comedy opens with the statement “More of this is true than you would believe.” After viewing the film and doing a tad bit of research, one might think the statement should have read more like: “A small sliver of this story is true, the rest is made up by a British writer/filmmaker who worked for The Guardian and wrote a novel more as a joke than historical revelation.”

Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a journalist for a newspaper in Ann Arbor living an average life until his wife decides to leave him for his editor. What does a man in his position do? Well, head to Iraq to cover the War on Terror, of course.

The only problem with Bob’s idea of getting into the trenches and covering a somewhat popular war in 2002 is clearance. Awaiting this clearance in Kuwait he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a salesman who is headed to Iraq. Bill manages to hitch a ride, a strange one that brings a little more than bargained for. In their travels Lyn confesses he is not a salesman, but rather a covert Army operative on a mission.

This is where the film gets interesting. Lyn, according to the story, goes on and on to Bob about being part of the Army’s First Earth Battalion, a secret sect trying to create the perfect soldier that could end all wars as we know them through paranormal strength. In essence, the government was trying to create jedis, which are referenced several times in the film for the sake of humor — being Ewan McGregor (who portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi) is the lead.

Through flashbacks we find the project was started by disillusioned Vietnam vet Bill Django (Jeff Bridges). After his experiences in the war and subsequent encounters with the sub-culture of the time Django, a New Age thinker, plans an outline on mental warfare for peace. The practices are unorthodox to say the least and include psychedelic drugs at times. Anyone who is a fan of “The Big Lebowski” will see the similarities between Bridges’ Dude character and Django. Cassady claims to be Django’s prize pupil and a man who can find anyone anywhere in his mind by relaxing, drinking and listening to Boston. Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), on the other hand, is a bit of a rotten apple amongst the unit.

“The Men who Stare at Goats” is not rooted in realistic warfare and really isn’t very deep in any political convictions. It most certainly is not true, but none of that matters because “Goats” goes for quirky humor designed to showcase its top stars.

Director Grant Heslov, a co-writer with Clooney for the Oscar-nominated screenplay for “Goodnight and Good Luck,” doesn’t really have to do much considering the cast and the roles they’re playing. Clooney certainly knows his way around absurd and at times contradictory dialogue, and is fully capable of dealing it with a straight face. McGregor is fine at playing the wide-eyed optimist who wants to believe the stories are true so he can write an expose. Kevin Spacey is in the villain role, not exactly to the man who played Lex Luther, but as always is as solid as they come. Even veteran actor Robert Patrick gets in a small scene that garners some laughs.

But the real attraction is probably Bridges, who is one of the more underrated actors out there and once again shows how, with the right part, he can steal the show from anyone.

The hardest work probably went to screenwriter Peter Staughan in his adaptation of Jon Ronson’s novel, but with some interesting imagination he does succeed with a loopy but interesting script.

“The Men That Stare At Goats” may not carry a lot weight with its validity, even though the Django character is in fact based on a retired Army Lt. Col. Jim Channon, who believes in New Age concerts, but it does offer an interesting and quirky tale.

This is part of the November 12, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.

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