Title: The Men Who Stare At Goats Director: Grant Heslov Starring: George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGreggor, Kevin Spacey, Goat Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Studio: Overture Films Genre(s): Comedy Rated:         (For language, some drug content and brief nudity)   Buy From Amazon.com: Soundtrack (MP3 Only) / Novel

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents, there is some language, drug use, and brief nudity. Recommended for ages 16 and up.

At the beginning of “The Men Who Stare At Goats” there is a caption that reads “This story is more true then most would like to believe.” Or something along those lines. It’s purpose is simple: It wants you to BELIEVE this actually happened! This intention of the film makers I can believe. I’m not sure I believe the story itself though. It’s a silly story, about an American journalist named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGreggor) who is looking for his next big story after his wife leaves him. He finds it in a hippie psychic named Lyn Cassady (Academy Award-winner George Clooney), who was part of a special military operation that trained people how to use psychic powers and talks of peace over guns.

This group was led by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), a troubled man who found peace with the hippie lifestyle. This was eventually all disbanded when another military man wanted to run the program instead. This person was Larry Hooper (Academy Award-winner Kevin Spacey), who likes some of the ideas behind the group but not the whole “peace” aspect of it. Reading this synopsis and re-watching the trailer this all sounds like it would make for a good satirical movie. The studios even went as far as to push this as a comedy. Sadly the movie takes itself far too seriously sometimes, and many of the funny moments in the trailer aren’t funny in the context of the movie.

I’m not sure what went wrong with the film, but the movie never had my attention. It was always boring and it felt long when it shouldn’t have. The actors are all talented, but they have no personality on the screen. In fact, I'm not even sure what this movie is supposed to be about when it's all said and done. For such a big budget movie it’s almost amazing how unspectacular it all feels. I tried to be clever about this movie, but it just falls flat. It’s not even that terrible, it’s just BORING!!! Nothing really happens, the actors have no chemistry, and the story is pure nonsense (but not to the point where it’s funny). Overall it’s just a wasted opportunity.

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