(This review is quite delayed due to other work, but im going to keep steadfast and review all the films i see at the movies this year dammit! :P)
With The Hurt Locker effectively portraying the Iraq War and its gritty realism, it comes with great pleasure to see the other side of the spectrum, with The Men Who Stare At Goats.
This film marks yet another foray for George Clooney into quirky roles, so effectively presented in his trilogy of idiots for the Coen Bros., being O, Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Cruelty and Burn After Reading. While here he lacks the Coen Bros, he is directed by friend Grant Heslov, who helped Clooney with Good Night, And Good Luck and also has starred in many Hollywood films as “that ethnic guy”. It must be said however that this is not just a Clooney film, but one of a great ensemble, including Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Stephen Root, Robert Patrick and recent Oscar Winner/his dudeness himself, Jeff Bridges.
The film tells the (apparently true) tale of a reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), who interviews a a man who believes he has psychic abilities (Stephen Root), before passing it aside. It is not until he discovers his wife is cheating on him does it cause him to fly to Iraq and report on the war. There he meets Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney), who was mentioned in his previous interview. This begins an adventure across the Middle East, where Bob learns of a special unit of psychic spies for the army who use strange new-age methods of combat, calling themselves “Jedi Warriors”.
You can see that this is a film who isnt afraid to be competely and utterly silly, and it really is, hilariously so. The script is full of strangeness and larger than life moments, its almost believable, and makes for quite alot of laughs. The laughs come from the performances.
Clooney shows he is a pro at changing genres here. His wide-eyed silliness that he brought to the Coen Bros. films is effortlessly brought over here, making for great oddball comedic moments, such as the strange solar cooker, the cloud bursting, the fighting skills. He is just a joy to watch and shows why he is one of the best in the business today.
Ewan McGregors’ protagonist works surprisingly well, especially with his exagerated American accent, which is tolerable. He works very well as the naive straight man on the piece, whos chemestry works well with this great big crowd of stooges. Its also great to see his ignorance whenever Jedi Warrior is said, what with his legacy in the Star Wars films.
Its nice to see Kevin Spacey back on screen in somewhat of a known role, after falling back into obscurity in the past few years, and he makes for a formidible villian, one who is childishly competitive and quite silly. He’s not truly that imposing, but really in a movie like this, no one is supposed to be imposing.
And then we have Jeff Bridges, the spiritual leader and founder of the unit, who makes for a load of hilarity. Here he channels his inner “Dude” from the Coen Bros. classic The Big Lebowski, with even more bohiemianess and aloofness. He reminds us yet again how he also can hold comedy, and effortless change to dramatic fare, like his Oscar Winning performance in Crazy Heart. He is again, a massive joy to watch.
It must be said that its great to see other familiar faces pop up, especially the career revived Stephen Lang, post-Avatar, using his manly attitude in jest, which is insanely hilarious.
The problem of the film however is the story structure. Sure, it delivers on laughs and performances, but the script lacks by way of story. This is due to the way its uneven, told mostly within quite animated sequences in the past, like a hilarious history lesson, whereas the present story is quite dull and uneventful, making it quite a drag and pointless experience for viewers. Yes, we have learned about this strange unit, but we havent really been given much of an experience, just a bunch of hilariously odd characters, whom, if they were not as odd, the film would have fallen completely flat. I never thought i would say this, but there is HARDLY enough goat staring either. The film does have a great trashy 80s soft rock soundtrack though which ties in quite well.
In the end, its a film to see for the performances, to see respected actors get a little silly, act a little odd, do strange things. Its a film that may be forgotten in the long run, becoming a small gem to be rediscovered.
3/5
