a Jedi feeling

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2009)

The Men Who Stare at Goats. Just look at that title for a moment. If you knew nothing at all about this movie- didn't know it was about psychic spies (aka "The First Earth Battalion") who trained to use peaceful means against their enemies, or that it starred three of the finest American actors working (Clooney, Bridges, Spacey) and a Scottsman (McGregor), or that it was a comedy "mostly based on truth believe it or not"- wouldn't the title just jut out at you? In a way the title is like many of the things that we as the audience come across as we're meant to be with McGregor's journalist character - there's something unbelievable going on, but we have to go along with it, just for a little while. And yet at the same time it's also silly, but it knows its silly. The Men Who Stare at Goats sounds equally official and like a new-wave 80's pop band parody, who may or may not actually stare at goats in order to stop their hearts with their minds.
This is, for the most part, an astonishing comedy of the absurd told with a straight face. I was laughing through most of it in some part because of the performances (Clooney as an ex "Jedi" who was one of the best and brightest of the First Earth Battalion is about as deadpan as we've ever seen him, and Bridges comes off like The Dude from the Big Lebowski with more spiritual discipline as a leader), how all of the major players worked off one another and made themselves truthful and honest even when saying or doing ridiculous things like yoga in a desert or gaining energy through the power of dance.
But the other thing that makes the movie so brilliant is its style. This is a gonzo comedy, but it's in the subject matter. First time director Grant Heslov doesn't do anything too crazy with the style of the camera or editing (save maybe for Clooney "projecting" himself through the sky while listening to Boston's "More Than a Feeling"), so we see it with the same straight face that someone like Bob from Ann Arbor Michigan Press would see it. Or, for that matter, while reading the book, which is based on a real psychic squad of soldiers in a (now semi) secret program run by the US government. Whether or not the soldiers really could run through walls by focusing hard enough or see what was inside of metal containers or if Angela Lansbury knew where Noriega was or if a scrotum could... OK, perhaps I've said too much, what matters is just that they believed it, and it became more like religion than warfare.
It's a farce loaded with dry and high wit, and infectious performances. There's some dark moments as well, like with Clooney's Lyn with his crisis of his being with killing that goat (i.e. how can he be redeemed and will he die from being touched with an ancient martial arts move, or something else I wouldn't spoil just for story sake), but its really about seeing these people in the nature of a subversive system within a system. It's got a touch of the Dr. Strangelove to it, not reaching its satirical heights but emulating it just enough to branch off and do its own thing. That, plus a fitting homage to those psychedelic B movies of the 60s where, as the climax, there's just lots and lots of tripping (again, seen through the camera with a clear eye and mind), makes it almost poignant. Almost, that is, if one weren't laughing their head off, which I did quite a lot.
Overall, it's a minor riot, particularly if you can't get enough of Jedi "jokes", uproarious running gag style, around a dumbfounded Ewan McGregor.