Easterner movie review: “The Men Who Stare at Goats”

For a movie that ranges from the Vietnam War to mentally incapacitating animals, “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” directed  by Grant Heslov, manages to be funny and thought-provoking, though it rings of a Coen brother-like execution.

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” is actually the true story of Ann Arbor, Michigan reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) and his attempt to impress his estranged wife (Rebecca Mader) by going on assignment to Kuwait in 2003. 

While in Kuwait, Wilton is introduced to defense contractor Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who is a former psychic warrior with the “New Earth Army,” a secret military project whose goal was to train psychic soldiers with an arsenal of mental weaponry. 

Wilton decides to use Cassady’s psychic ability to gain entry to Iraq and accompanies him through the desert in order to get a better perspective of the war-ravaged country’s rebuilding efforts.  Wilton gets more than he bargained for when Cassady begins to regale him with stories about his days as a “Jedi warrior” in the “New Earth Army” led by his commander Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

Cassady eventually confesses that he received a mental projection from Django and has been “reactivated,” which is the real reason for his trip to the sands of Iraq.  After being kidnapped, sold by terrorists and then eventually escaping, Cassady and Wilton end up at a secret base in the desert run by many of Cassady’s former colleagues including Django and also his former rival Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey).

McGregor didn’t do a great job playing Wilton; it felt as if he were impersonanting the character while forcing a Midwestern accent. This isn’t to say he didn’t have any funny or touching moments in the film; he just wasn’t up to par with some of his comparable work, even as a “real Jedi” in “Star Wars.”

The one “Jedi” that was on point was Clooney. As Cassady, Clooney was absolutely perfect for the role of an overconfident weirdo psychic. Though laugh-out-loud moments were few and far between in the movie, most came from something involving Cassady as well as the “Lebowskiesque” Django.

Though the film was imaginative and original in its own right, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching, “Fear and Loathing in the Kuwaiti Desert.”  Wilton acted as sort of a “gonzo journalist” making himself the main character in his own story, while Cassady acted as the catalyst, creating most of the drama and driving the plot.

The fact that this story is based on a lot of real events is possibly what makes it the most entertaining.  Beginning the film with the quote, “More of this story is true than you would believe.” begs the question,  “What is real exactly?”  Between a guy killing a goat with his mind and an aging hippie spiking an entire military base’s breakfast with LSD, parts of the movie felt like a fictional tangent from what could be authentic instances.

It may be possible for someone to stare at a goat until it passes out, but staring really hard at this film will not make it any better.  Even though based on a true story, that alone couldn’t save it from mediocrity and an ending that didn’t do the story justice.

Overall, the film was a good effort from cast and crew alike, but it wasn’t the laugh-fest or story of self-discovery that it could have been. Unless you’re a big fan of Jedis from this movie or another, I’d recommend waiting for the DVD on this one.