The Men Who Stare At Goats
Review
by Sean Lynch
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The Men Who Stare At Goats
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What happens when the army opt for flower power over gun power, and Hollywood opts for star power over script power? The Men Who Stare At Goats.
This
fascinatingly "almost true" tall tale that follows the adventures of
down-and-out reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, who still hasn't
mastered an American accent),
who stumbles upon a plan by the US army to use psychic powers in
battle, is yet another addition into George Clooney's ever expanding
"Movies That No One Else Would Bother Making" repertoire.
Why? Well, it's somewhat of a strange beast is The Men Who Stare At Goats.
When
Wilton encounters Lyn Cassady
(a mustachioed George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to
be part of an experimental U.S. military unit called "Warrior Monks",
the two head off on a journey to track down the program's hippy
founder, Bill Django (Crazy Heart's Jeff Bridges) who has gone missing.
Throw in some far-fetched stories, long-haired flashbacks, a creepy looking Kevin
Spacey and several LSD trips and you've pretty much got yourself, if nothing else, a fairly unique film.
The thing is The Men Who Stare At Goats,
despite it's best intentions to uncover a fairly bizzare yet
interesting topic, is ultimately a pretty pointless film too. Much like The Informant!, Goats
is perhaps too quirky for it's own good, a trait which totally
undermines the facts it's trying to reveal to the audience. Essentially it's not fun enough to be a brainless popcorn classic (like Billy Madison),
not serious enough to be considered a "real film", and bogged down by
it's star's real-life personalities out-shining that of the character. There is also the issue with George Clooney's film choices. Am I the only one who has noticed that George Clooney is an A-List star without ever having really starred in any "Hits"? Just think about it for a second...
Sure, he has Oceans 11 under his belt - but those were films he starred in based on the assumption he was "A-List" Box Office star. So what got him there? Was it The Peacemaker? I don't think so. It sure as hell wasn't Three Kings.
And despite taking in $320M worldwide... do you know anyone who can
remember a single moment (aside from "the boat going up the big wave"
shot) from A Perfect Storm?
What
I'm getting at is that Clooney, who has perhaps the most
recognisable face and charming onscreen personality in the world
next to Brad Pitt, has managed to sculpt a high flying career by just
being... Clooney.
Not that it's a bad thing. The guy can pretty much make anything watchable (hell, look at Up In The Air,
if it wasn't for Clooney... I not even sure that thing could actually
be considered a movie), but at some point someone is going to have to
sit down with Cloon-dog and make sure that he starts putting his skills
to work in the right places.
Imagine it - Clooney making a great movie brilliant, instead of Clooney making an average movie "Just OK". Until that point, we're stuck with mediocre fair like The Men Who Stare At Goats.
2 out
of 5
The Men Who Stare At Goats
Australian release: 4th March,
2010
Official
Site: The Men Who Stare At Goats
Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen
Lang
Director: Grant Heslov
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