Director: Grant Heslov
Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor & Jeff Bridges
An occasionally funny comedy made more so because it’s based upon some truth but never really embraces the absurdity of its truth or be as subversive a film as it could have been.
Based on the non-fiction book by writer Jon Ronson, itself spinning out of his investigations into stories of a New Age US Army Unit for his 2001 TV documentary series Secret Rulers of the World, The Men Who Stare at Goats has material for comedy as well as making subversive statements about war and military forces particularly in the current climate. The result though, while occasionally funny, is not as funny or subversive as it could have been as the source material is somewhat watered down by too many fictional elements added to the story.
Reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) is looking to raise his reputation as a reporter following a break up with his girlfriend. Looking to get into Iraq to gain experience and reputation as a war correspondent, Bob stumbles across Lyn Cassady (Clooney), a former Special Forces operative who is linked to a secret unit within the US Military that formed in the 1980s to develop psychic soldiers. Following Lyn into Iraq on a mission that may involve Lyn returning to active duty, Bob gets the story of how the New Age Unit that Lyn was a member of came about, how the unit fell apart and maybe how it all might be coming back.
Funny when it covers actual aims of the US Military unit that Jon Ronson investigated like the task in the film’s title where soldiers were trained to kill goats by staring at them, The Men Who Stare at Goats is less successful at humour and satire when it returns to its fictionalised story of how Ronson discovered such methods with the film recasting Ronson’s British journalist with an American version of himself in Bob Walton and pushing the buddy comedy style road trip between his character and Clooney’s. While this relationship results in some occasional humour too, it generally detracts from the ‘based on true events’ nature of the New Age Army itself with the opening statement in the film that more of the events depicted in the film are true than the audience would believe meaning audiences unfamiliar with Ronson’s book or TV documentaries may find themselves questioning the reality of the events that were true and which would be far funnier if the truth behind them were embraced. The film also makes connections between the methods explored by the New Age Army in the 1980s and interrogation techniques being used by the US Military today yet doesn’t adequately explore them much in the way that only aspects of Ronson’s investigations saw media coverage rather than the whole.
Performances in The Men Who Stare at Goats are generally quite enjoyable though none stand out for any of the actors involved. George Clooney is enjoyable as Lyn Cassady, the former New Age Army officer who is convinced he can perform the psychic feats he was trained for. Clooney resorts to his usual style of facial ticks and lampoonish behaviour that he employs when performing a comedy and while it is enjoyable there is little that is memorable. Ewan McGregor is decent but his performance is held back by his attempts at delivering his lines with an American accent which leaves his performance lacking when confronted by the larger than life antics of actors like Clooney and Bridges. Jeff Bridges delivers a likeable performance as Bill Django, the former commander of the New Age Army, who delivers a Jeff Lebowski-esque performance during the character’s prime before taking the character to his inevitable fate as a burned out shell of his former self in the present and Kevin Spacey plays his role as the meaner, jealous Larry Hooper with his usual deadpan flair.
Overall, while occasionally funny and featuring likeable performances from Clooney and Bridges, The Men Who Stare at Goats is not as funny or as satisfying as it could have been. Fictionalising some of the events of Jon Ronson’s non-fiction books means the humour to found in the actual true events depicted are watered down by the purely fictional events. Enjoyable but a little disappointing.
Rating: 3/5
