Movie Review #23 The Men Who Stare At Goats

The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009) George Clooney, Jeff Bridges Directed by Grant Heslov

The government's black operations program wastes so much money on goofy things you never end up hearing about, that it should come to no surprise to you at all that this movie is based on real events and accounts. Jon Ronson wrote an awesome book in 2004 of the same title and though the book is better than the film in many ways (it will shock you), it is nowhere near as entertaining.

Grant Heslov, a hollywood guy (works with Clooney frequently, produced and co wrote Good Night and, Good Luck, a great film) does a solid job piecing together a story out of a whistle-blower type book that aims to expose government idiocy. To tell the story we have the excellent Ewan McGregor who plays reporter (Bob Wilton) who is down on his luck and is looking for a story to tell. McGregor's character serves as narrator and paces us along this crazy ride. Bob ends up running into an old spec ops guy named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who then goes on to not only spill the beans on the whole "Jedi" First Earth Battalion's exploits, but also works out a little adventure of his own, as we are told he has been reactivated. So while Bob and Lyn go out getting themselves in some pretty odd calamities, we take breaks to flashback to the genesis of the Jedi project. The film, though lead by McGregor and Clooney, is carried by some pretty amazing supporting performances. Kevin Spacey (Larry Hooper), Stephan Lang (Brig. Gen. Dean Hopgood), and the Oscar worthy Jeff Bridges (Bill Django). The movie provides several crazy scenes, and there are lots of laughs. The film gives you the daily doses of drug use, comedy gold, and sweet irony...maybe a weeks worth. There are moments in the story that are lazy and maybe not all that logical, but as a vessel to tell the story of this infamous Black Ops program, what they have come up with is fine. I really had a good time at this film, with strong acting, and some lines that will live on forever (quick ex: (Bob)-We put LSD in the eggs, don't eat the eggs. (Django)-And in the water. (Bob)-But we drank the water. (Django)-We had to, we didn't want to attract suspicion. ) this film will sneak into my top ten of the year. So if you are keeping track still, in this order we have (500) Days of Summer (8.0), Capitalism A Love Story (8.0), The Hurt Locker (8.0), Star Trek (7.5), Inglourious Basterds (7.5), The Soloist (7.0), Where the Wild Things Are (7.0), Coraline (7.0), The Men Who Star At Goats (7.0), and The Informant (7.0)...that's where we are at so far, though it is always subject to change and the fall season usually brings about several Oscar worthy movies.

(The Shawshank Scale 1-10) So "The Dude" (Jeff Bridges) leading a group of drug-taking Jedi warrior spec ops guys through a training program...um yeah, maybe it's not Mick and Rocky, or Pvt. Joker and Gunny Hartman, but it is very strong. I think it warrants a 7.0 on the scale, and I recommend you see it in theaters.

Food For Thought: So I brought in a sandwich with some hard salami...man I love that stuff. I am training for a run coming up here soon so no recipes this week, as we build up to Turkey Day, however...I did spoil myself with two great meals: at an event I had a peppercorn encrusted fillet med-rare that was great and at a great Vegas joint called RAKU I had the worlds best Blue Fin Tuna! Up next for Clooney is his Oscar buzz films The Fantastic Mr. Fox (which is a lovely story by Roald Dahl of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame) and Up in the Air. For Bridges there is Crazy Heart about a often divorced country music singer and of course there is Tron Legacy the sequel to the 1982 film Tron, about...um the ATARI game system I think, who asked for that sequel...oh well "The Dude abides".