Clooney and company milk 'Goats' for laughs
It takes a quick 93 minutes for "The Men Who Stare at Goats" to dump a load of satirical napalm all over the U.S. military in a story so comically outrageous that when it cautions us, "More of this is true than you would believe," we can believe that.
"Goats" has flourishes of other zany black comedies contemplating the madness of war, particularly "M*A*S*H" and "Catch-22," but finds its own identity in a post-"Star Wars" era when George Lucas apparently had a much greater influence on military PSYOPS (psychological operations) than anyone could have imagined.
Ewan McGregor, who has a few "Star Wars" ties of his own, stars as Bob Wilton, a small-town journalist who decides, after being dumped by his lover for a one-armed man, to cover the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Stuck in Kuwait City and rejected by the established correspondents, Wilton stumbles upon a major story when he meets a mysterious guy named "Skip" with information about a U.S. program to create an army of super psychic soldiers who can kill goats by staring at them.
Skip turns out to be Lyn Cassady, a retired military man and apparently the most gifted goat killer, returned to active duty to perform a secret operation in Iraq.
Although it doesn't hit Wilton, we can tell that Cassady, played with comic macho bravado by producer George Clooney, is a few rounds short of a full clip.
Cassady calls himself a "Jedi warrior" with superhuman powers developed during the 1980s by the Reagan administration. He claims to be able to "remote view" situations around the world in his mind, thanks to Lt. Col. Bill Jango, the father of something called the New Earth Army.
Jango is a Vietnam-War-soldier-turned-hippie-era-nut-job played by a pig-tailed, goateed Jeff Bridges, channeling his Dude character from "The Big Lebowski."
Tripped out on LSD, Jango convinces the Pentagon it must invest time and money in creating psychic warriors before the Soviet Union does.
"We must become the first super power to have super powers!" Jango declares.
Kevin Spacey arrives later in the story as its ostensible villain, Larry Hooper, an alleged psychic with ambitions to become the most celebrated member of the New Army team, no matter what it takes.
"Goats" is based on Jon Ronson's 2004 book, adapted by British writer Peter Straughan, who has no problem sticking flashbacks within flashbacks, or letting Wilton narrate the movie to death, even during the early '80s sequences he would have no direct knowledge of.
(Note: Straughan also invented Wilton's character to spur the narrative along and maybe to be an embarrassment to journalists, as he doesn't even know the right verb to use in sentences such as "There is too many sharp edges!")
"Goats" has been directed crisply and efficiently by Grant Heslov, who worked with Clooney by cowriting his fact-based "Good Night, and Good Luck." Rolfe Kent's fun and bouncy score provides a perfect accompaniment to the film's sly comic edge.
Although the various components of the movie work together in well-lubed harmony, it's Clooney's ingratiating depiction of eccentric absurdity that makes this silly "Goat" comically gruff.
<p class=factboxtext12col>★★★</p> <p class=factboxtext12col><b>Starring:</b> George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick</p> <p class=factboxtext12col><b>Directed by:</b> Grant Heslov</p> <p class=factboxtext12col><b>Other:</b> An Overture Films release. Rated R (drug use, language, nudity). 93 minutes</p>