Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
George Clooney
Ewan McGregor
Jeff Bridges
Kevin Spacey
Stephen Lang
Robert Patrick
Directed by:
Grant Heslov
I first heard of this movie through the agressive marketing campaign given by Spike TV. There are setups that cannot fail...well, they can, but it's unlikely that they will. Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, U.S Army and goats for example, is something that has W-I-N written in giant golden letters all over.
Put the Coen moniker on that kind of setup and I will faint from satisfaction before even watching the movie. The director is somebody named Grant Heslov, a Hollywood jack-of-all-trade who has little to no prior experience with direction. But what do I know? It's like that I discovered the almighty Brad Anderson. Plus, Heslov is implicated with the movie adaptation of James Ellroy's White Jazz, so he can't be all that bad, can he?
STORYTELLING
Buckle up, this one is rather hard to follow. Bob Wilton (McGregor), a small town journalist in the midst of a divorce is looking for the story that will make him. Depressed, borderline desperate, Wilton pays a visit to Gus Lacey, who pretends to have telekinetic powers.
Despite his willingness to believe him, Wilton comes to dismiss Lacey's story as dellusionnal. It's just later, as Wilton signs up to be a war correspondent in Kuwait that destiny will get back to him. He will meet Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who Gus Lacey had talked about in their prior interview. At first hand, Cassady looks as much as a wackjob as Lacey did, but soon Bob Wilton is going to discover the buried secrets of an army department no one knew about The New Earth Army.
Cassady is one of the remaining men of Bill Django (Bridges) a new age guru the U.S Army financed in hope to make a breakthrough in telekinetic powers. The Jedi(yep) trained by Django are a force of peace, dedicated to the control of their ennemies mind. The two new found allies will enter a journey at the heart of the Middle East, guided by the spirit of the guru Django, with...no...precise...goal..in..mind!
DIRECTION
The Men Who Stare At Goats has a lot of common points with a Coen brothers movie. You could call it worship or tribute, but it's a hell lot like it. Narrated at the first person by Wilton, the story hops constantly in between present times and the remnisciences of Lyn Cassady's time in the New Earth Army.
Grant Heslov always remains clear and focused on his characters. It's a character-driven story and he does a great job at putting the emphasis on Clooney and Bridges. Ewan McGregor's character Bob Wilton is such a well portrayed narrator he sometimes faints into non-existence. It's a colorful movie that lives up to its story's larger-than-life ideals. It's a bit of a linear journey, but there is a unique flavor to it.
ACTING
The main problem of having an all-star cast is to even out. Every actor will perform solid so they will all be on the same level and won't create dynamic life. The Men Who Star At Goats doesn't suffer this problem since Bridges' debonnaire depiction of a seventies prisonner steals the show again.
George Clooney gives it all he got, as usual, but comes in overacting against Bridges' natural talent. McGregor does his job as Bob Wilton, but any up-and-coming nobody could have done the job. Kevin Spacey is great as an antagonist and Stephen Lang (remember him from Avatard?) is best suited with the over-the-top Brigadier Hopgood. Less talented actors are always better off with borderline-slapstick role. Just ask Tom Cruise.
INTEREST
The Men Who Stare At Goats have every pieces of the puzzle to be great. Why do I feel like it falls flat? Like many other stories before, its ending doesn't live up to its tale. I'm not sure if the novel by Jon Ronson ends the same, the adventures of Bob Wilton, Lyn Cassady and Bill Django comes off as an iconoclast misfire that swings agressively but misses the target.
There is a strong anti-military statement made, but all the characters come off as sympathetic goofballs, which makes the wild statement look like another day at the office for the strungout soldiers. It's a playful tale rather than an angry rant and it somehow brings down the movie to a level of forgetability not suitable for Bridges, Clooney and goats.
NOTE: B-
