The Men Who Stare at Goats

Evidently inspired by true events, The Men Who Stare at Goats stars Ewan McGregor as Bob Wilton – an unassuming reporter who stumbles upon what he believes to be the story of his life after encountering a former soldier named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). Despite Bob’s initial skepticism, Lyn eventually convinces the young journalist that he’s able to control his surroundings using only his mind – which inevitably triggers a series of adventures as the two men embark on a mysterious quest laid out by Lyn. The Men Who Stare at Goats has been infused with an unapologetically silly and irreverent sensibility that proves effective at instantly luring the viewer into the proceedings, with the impressively go-for-broke performances – Clooney is especially entertaining here – initially compensating for the decidedly thin storyline. The inclusion of countless flashbacks and cutaways effectively perpetuates the off-the-wall, almost sketch comedy-like atmosphere, and it does become awfully difficult to resist the shamelessly affable nature of first-time filmmaker Grant Heslov’s modus operandi. There does reach a point, however, at which the movie starts to run out of steam, as the plot slowly but surely adopts attributes of a comparatively dramatic nature – with the film’s relatively routine third act ensuring that the whole thing wraps up in a disappointingly conventional manner (ie Bob and Lyn’s quest is as predictable as one could imagine). It’s nevertheless impossible to entirely discount The Men Who Stare at Goats, with the gleefully anarchic opening hour essentially compensating for the movie’s less-than-successful finale.

**1/2 out of ****