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:

The one-sheet (advertising poster) for this movie is a spoof of a frequently used style for movie posters in which, instead of trying to communicate anything about the plot or content of the film, the poster just contains multiple stacked faces of the stars. On this poster, the last face visible in the row is a goat's, and the billing line above their photos reads, "George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Goat."

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene in which Clooney's character (Lyn) is on top of the car the morning they wake up in the desert, it can clearly be seen that Lyn leaves a large dent in the car. In the next scene the dent is gone.

Quotes:

Bob Wilton: ...but really he was dying of a broken heart. And maybe a little bit of cancer.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

You're What I Need the Most

Not As Good As I Was Expecting

I did like "The Men Who Stare at Goats", however, it was not as good as I set my hopes for. This is one of those movies where the trailers and adds on television showed the funniest parts of the movie.

The story was neither here or there and I spent a majority of the time hoping they would really go somewhere, yet it never did.

I felt that the idea of the movie was very splendid, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

Clooney and Spacey were great as always. Bridges (who I am not quite as familiar with) was enjoyable as well. McGregor was not bad, yet nothing special.

Overall, not bad acting, not bad ideas, but the story could have been better. Check it out if you have a chance but don't worry if it passes you by.