Home Theater Forum › HT Gear & Movies › DVD & Blu-ray › DVDs › Comedy DVDs › The Men Who Stare At Goats › The Men Who Stare At Goats Reviews
The Men Who Stare At Goats Reviews
March 19, 2010 at 11:22 am
Pros: Great actor ensemble, offbeat story
Cons: Ewan MacGregor's American accent is terrible!
Cons: Ewan MacGregor's American accent is terrible!
George Clooney, Ewan MacGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey make up a pretty killer cast for any movie. In this case, throw in an offbeat story and you've got a fun flick.
The plot could use more of a vector and this lack of direction hurts the movie. Ultimately, it's not clear what is really driving this story. You've got a depressed loser following a crazy loon on an unnamed and fruitless "mission" that turns out not to exist. A lot of it is told in flashbacks that don't amount to much, and the present action wanders without aim for most of the film.
What saves it is the quirky nature of the material. A special unit in the US military that's made up of new age hippie "jedi warriors?" Jeff Bridges is brilliant as their commanding officer, and George Clooney is fantastic as the star of the platoon. All the stuff about building psychic super soldiers is just ridiculous enough to be true (especially if you remember some of the metaphysical excesses of the Reagan family).
The main thing I took away from this film is that I really want to pick up the book it was based on, written by This American Life contributor Jon Ronson.
The plot could use more of a vector and this lack of direction hurts the movie. Ultimately, it's not clear what is really driving this story. You've got a depressed loser following a crazy loon on an unnamed and fruitless "mission" that turns out not to exist. A lot of it is told in flashbacks that don't amount to much, and the present action wanders without aim for most of the film.
What saves it is the quirky nature of the material. A special unit in the US military that's made up of new age hippie "jedi warriors?" Jeff Bridges is brilliant as their commanding officer, and George Clooney is fantastic as the star of the platoon. All the stuff about building psychic super soldiers is just ridiculous enough to be true (especially if you remember some of the metaphysical excesses of the Reagan family).
The main thing I took away from this film is that I really want to pick up the book it was based on, written by This American Life contributor Jon Ronson.
Post Comment
Home Theater Forum › HT Gear & Movies › DVD & Blu-ray › DVDs › Comedy DVDs › The Men Who Stare At Goats › The Men Who Stare At Goats Reviews
