With a star studded cast The Men Who Stare At Goats tells the tale of an American Black Ops unit designed to combat the enemy through a series of psychic tactics. Ewan McGregor plays a reporter in desperate need of his big break who, by chance, runs into the greatest psychic spy America has to offer (George Clooney). They travel through Iraq on a secret mission while McGregor listens to Clooney's story of the groups beginnings and his long and tumultous relationship with Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey's characters.
The film is labeled as a comedy but few parts are funny. In particular, the group and Clooney often refer to themselves as "Jedi Warriors". With McGregor in the film, every time this is brought up I cant help but laugh. Other than that the funniest moments were all shown in the trailers.
Suprisingly the film is based on a true story. But the whole idea of the paranormal trooper started during Vietna, which as we know was in the midst of the Cold War with Russia. Russia began experiments into psychic spies, so naturally America could not let them develop it first. So Jeff Bridges character spent years learning how to develop psychic abilities and created the only group.
I first heard about the book while watching and episode of the Colbert Report when he interviewed the author, Jon Ronson. I really wanted to read the book after hearing about it but never got around to it and then I learned they were making a film so I didnt bother.
The film was enjoyable and had some of my favorite actors. There were things that could have been done better but I cant name any off the top of my head. The title is misleading but creative and it will pull in viewers/readers questioning what it is. It is worth a rent or use up about .5Gb of computer space and download it you might actually enjoy it.
The Men Who Stare At Goats recieves 6 "Clooney Death Stares"...out of 10
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