Filmikaze!

By: Grant Heslov (director), Peter Straughan (screenplay), Jon Ronson (book)

Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey

A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army’s New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.

While it can definitely be said that truth is often stranger than fiction, I think it’s fair enough to say that there’s a difference between the two for a reason. The Men Who Stare At Goats is supposedly based on actual events, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it’s stranger than most of what’s coming out of mainstream Hollywood these days. The question, however, is whether being weird qualifies it for being filmed in the first place.

Watching The Men Who Stare At Goats is an exercise in bewilderment. The subject matter is so strange that there’s very little for the viewer to relate to or be engaged by. It’s not awkward weird or innovative weird, it’s just perplexing, a fact only exacerbated by the haphazard storyline and practically lethargic narration. This could have been a stronger movie had it focused on the development of a single story, but instead halves its strength by trying to needlessly parallel two. An hour in, I still wasn’t sure what the hell I was watching or why.

There’s a measure of reassurance in knowing that George Clooney continues to be amazing, at least, and while the cast also includes heavyweights like Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, Clooney carries the entire movie and is the only reason it’s actually worth watching. I’m beginning to think that Ewan McGregor needs to start avoiding roles that require him to use an American accent; it isn’t that his accent is bad, but rather that he yet again seems positively tepid and unable to comfortably inhabit his role, and to be honest, my general impression is that he was only cast for the Jedi irony.

You know, I’m still not sure what the hell the movie was supposed to be about. It gets so mired in being quirky that it loses the thread of its morality and becomes simply an ensemble cast doing weird shit. If that’s what I wanted to watch, I’d go sit in a Wal-Mart for a couple of hours and save myself nine bucks.