Men Who Stare at Goats
Ewan McGregor stars as a reporter who gets stuck with the small, weird story assignments. He stumbles across a guy who claims he can psychically kill his hamster. He was taught by Lyn, played by George Clooney, who was part of a weird branch of the army that had “psychic soldiers” that could run through walls or kill a goat just by staring at it. McGregor’s reporter, Bob, finds Lyn and decides to interview him for a story. They end up in Afghanistan on an adventure while there are constant flashbacks to how Lyn discovered his powers and how the New Earth Army (the psychic soldiers) came into being.
I thought the trailer for the movie was hilarious. It showed bits and pieces of the film in a slightly jumbled way that previews do. It makes you want to watch more. Apparently, the entire movie was just like the trailer. It was all jumbled together with funny bits, but no cohesive whole. I felt like I was watching a bunch of sketch comedy skits that had a general theme, but nothing deeper than that. The movie rambled on a bit and then it ended.
George Clooney was entertaining, but his character was pretty similar to his character in Burn After Reading except he had a funny mustache. Ewan McGregor was disappointing since he had an American accent. He really should only be allowed to talkĀ in his Scottish accent. Jeff Bridges was playing a hippie version of the Dude from The Big Lebowski. Kevin Spacey just played an asshole. None of the characters had any substance. They were very much like the movie.
I’d recommend just watching the trailer, laughing, and then calling it a day.
Rating: C
Thank goodness you wrote this review. I seriously thought I was just too high when I saw this, and I’d made a note to watch it again (less high) when it came out on DVD. Now I don’t have to.
Unless you were also really high?
George Clooney was great in this movie! He looks even better with the new mustache. He also has another movie called up in the air. I saw them both online streaming.