Clooney and McGregor thinking hard ... about goats.

Cast: George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor
Director: Grant Heslov
Screenwriter: Peter Straughen

The Men Who Stare at Goats is the big budget adaptation of Jon Ronson’s bestselling book, which exposed the US army’s experiments with psychic spying, invisibility, and of course, remote goat murder.

And what an adaptation it is. The film casts four of Hollywood’s biggest names in the role of army officers who each believe they have the psychic powers of a Jedi Warrior. The stellar cast all deliver hilarious, over the top performances, which the film uses to brilliant satirical effect.

Many of the film’s biggest laughs come from the buffoonery of the cast, who moan and wail, talk nonsense and stare at goats. But underneath the surface lurks a biting satire of the military intelligence community. It is especially prevalent in the film’s triumphant final act, where the modern applications of military operations are revealed in the context of the Iraq invasion.

As with all Hollywood adaptations, there’s an inevitable flexibility towards the source material as episodes are edited or altered to fit the three act structure of a 90 minute film. Unfortunately for The Men Who Stare at Goats, the thing that went missing from page to screen, it seems, is the truth. The disclaimer at the start of the film warns “More of this is true than you would believe”, but exactly how much is open to question.

The film appears almost embarrassed to indulge in the idea of psychic troops being real. Heslov delights in presenting the mental powers as initially barmy, then real, before dismissing them once more, until reality and fiction are indistinguishable. However, digital effects allow impossible feats to be presented straight, like a character breaking up clouds with his mind, and people walking through walls. The film never discloses how much of what is seen is Hollywood’s version of the truth.

While the flashbacks to the heyday of the New Earth Army are some of the film’s best moments, their manic energy and enthusiasm are dampened by an attempt to make sense of the film’s absurdity with a ‘Hollywood’ plot.

The film arranges the flashbacks around the misadventures of journalist Bob Wilton (McGregor), who escapes to Iraq in order to impress his ex-wife, and falls in with Lyn Cassaday (Clooney) along the way. In comparison to the crazy flashbacks, the modern day adventure feels lacklustre and meandering: McGregor is given little to do until past and present collide in the film’s final reels.

If you can overlook the Hollywood sensibilities and a frustrating relationship with the truth, The Men Who Stare at Goats is a bold and satirical take on war, the intelligence community and A-list actors.

The Men Who Stare At Goats is released in cinemas on 6th November via Momentum

By Philip Reynolds