The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

Director:

Grant Heslov

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay)
Jon Ronson (book)

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

No goats. No glory.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Staring Contest | Box Office Hit | Hippie | Goat | New Age

Cast

George Clooney	...	Lyn Cassady
Ewan McGregor	...	Bob Wilton
Jeff Bridges	...	Bill Django
Kevin Spacey	...	Larry Hooper
Stephen Lang	...	Brigadier General Dean Hopgood
Robert Patrick	...	Todd Nixon
Waleed Zuaiter	...	Mahmud Daash
Stephen Root	...	Gus Lacey
Glenn Morshower	...	Major Holtz
Nick Offerman	...	Scotty Mercer
Tim Griffin	...	Tim Kootz
Rebecca Mader	...	Debora Wilton
Jacob Browne	...	Lieutenant Boone
Todd La Tourrette	...	Dave
Brad Grunberg	...	Ron

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some drug content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45563) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Norway:15 | Netherlands:12 | UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

In this film about male bonding and trying to find the proper male role, the only dialog spoken by females is either from off-screen (Debra Wilton) or in a man's imagination (VC Woman), although towards the end a female soldier laughs.

Goofs:

Factual errors: You cannot get a Dishonourable Discharge from a Investigation Board. Only a Courts Martial can give a DD. Furthermore, DD's can only be given to enlisted personnel. Commissioned officers are given a 'dismissal' from the service, which carries the same penalties and social stigma associated with a Dishonorable Discharge.

Quotes:

Lyn Cassady: Dear Mother Earth... I will drink your blue waters... and eat your green skin.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

Oudistic

A good film, but not without its flaws

Well, I must say that I was looking forward to this movie - after reading the cast list and hearing a brief overview of the plot I felt that it had good potential. And whoever made the trailer did a very good job of making me want to see it.

Unfortunately, there seemed to me to be a certain amount of confusion about the film - were the directors entirely sure what type of film they were making? There are elements of comedy, satire, drama, action... but without having enough of each of these things to really give the movie a proper feel or direction. It veers close to being funny... and then veers off. It comes close to satirising American military tactics... and then goes off in another direction. I felt that a little more focus was needed overall to bring the film together.

In terms of acting, I think that generally the actors can be pleased with their work - I don't remember any specific cases of over or underacting, and the characters were about as believable as they could be in a film like this. As far as the comedy goes - this film was primarily marketed as a comedy - there are some genuinely funny moments! Overall, however, I felt that some bits needed to be trimmed down - the constant Jedi references were funny the first time but quickly wear thin.

The plot also needed a little bit of work: it started off with a promising storyline, and good editing I might add, but seemed to lose its way towards the end. It seemed as if the film-makers didn't really know where to go next. There were a few scenes that really didn't need to be included either - Robert Patrick's contribution to the film really added nothing, and could easily be removed. It was entirely forgettable and was simply a device to get the characters to the next place that they needed to be.

Overall I'd say this this is a fairly good film, certainly worth seeing. As for buying the DVD, that I'm not so sure about. If you're looking for a way to spend and hour and a half of your evening, while there are better films to see than this there are also considerably worse ones.