The Men Who Stare at Goats

With the semester in full swing I am saddened to say that I have rarely found my way to the theater. But with the titles that have come out this fall there are only a handful of movies I regret missing. Luckily I found the time to see The Men Who Stare at Goats. All I kept hearing about before I saw the film was how “critics” and others didn’t think it lived up to the hype. I don’t know where I’ve been but I hardly saw any hype. The occasional commercial was about it and those left me confused as to what the movie was actually about.

The first thing that worked for the film was definitely the star power. I figured that if so many big names signed on to this project that the script must be good and it turns out I was right.

Multiple times throughout watching it I thought a different actor stole the performance but it was a constant cycle. From George Clooney and Jeff Bridges who both played out of touch military men with ambitious imaginations, to Ewan McGregor’s level headed thrill seeker the players kept me on my toes. I tend to find that many big names blur a film like this because it’s tough to get by their past performances. But this time I found it was the opposite. I was so convinced of their roles in Goats that it even took me a second to figure out why the audience was laughing at McGregor’s reaction to the Star Wars Jedi references. He of course played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise.

On the other hand I wasn’t as thrilled with Kevin Spacey’s performance. He definitely was convincing and played his part well but I just kept thinking he was basically repeating his performance as Lex Luthor from Superman Returns without the money, and fame. Nonetheless I believe he was the best man for the power hungry, betrayer role.

I found the plotline of The Men Who Stare At Goats to be completely unique. I have never heard of or seen anything like it. With the constant run of cookie cutter slasher movies “with a twist” that came out in October. I am glad to see that studios are now putting out some quality as we close in on the Christmas blockbusters and award season.

When the lights dimmed and the text “More of this is true than you think” came up on screen director Grant Heslov, and all the players involved got me hooked into a maze layered with truth, fiction, and tons of moustaches. The possibility of there actually being psychic spies in the U.S military should be enough for you to check out this movie. The jokes aren’t all stitch in your side funny but every scene was a surprise and every shot threatened to bring you something you couldn’t believe. It was really that good. (9 out of 10)