Hard to dislike, but thoroughly mediocre

Rating: 6/10 (2 May 2010)

While it has an interesting story and a very good performance by George Clooney in it (every bit as good as his Oscar nominated performance in Up in the Air), The Men Who Stare at Goats is imminently forgettable. And that's just disappointing in itself. Ewan MacGregor stars as a reporter who meets up with Clooney, a supposed psychic who has worked for the Army in the past. He was part of a hippie/supernatural-inspired Army research project, the New Earth Army, and is now in Iraq (the year is 2003) on a secret mission. The film has many flashbacks to the 1980s, during the New Earth Army days. Jeff Bridges was their leader. Stephen Lange is a General who is fascinated with the supernatural and gets Bridges his funding. Kevin Spacey plays Clooney's main rival. Somehow, with this pretty darn interesting material, Grant Heslov makes absolutely nothing of it. It's never bad, per se, but it just sits there not doing much. Ewan MacGregor does drag the film down a little. He seems cast just because the constant references to Jedi (the members of the New Earth Army call themselves Jedi). It's a joke Heslov never makes work. MacGregor has a terrible time perfecting an American accent. I rarely notice when foreigners feign American accents, but MacGregor seems like he's about to have an aneurysm much of the time.