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'Witness for the Prosecution' keeps audiences guessing
Actor Gary Coleman pleads guilty in Utah court
Rich Heldenfels: 'Past Life' is unbelievable
Michael Jackson doctor charged with manslaughter
Gary Coleman scheduled for Utah court appearance
'Christmas Story' actor finds challenges behind camera
Actor in Oscar nominee for foreign films is detained
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Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
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Region makes way for latest batch of snow; cancellations rise
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
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No City of Akron basketball tonight
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Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
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Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
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NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
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Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Vision is fuzzy but there are some laughs
By David Germain
Associated Press
Published on Thursday, Nov 05, 2009
A fun tone is undermined by disjointed storytelling in George Clooney's The Men Who Stare at Goats, and it all starts with the disclaimer that opens the movie: ''More of this is true than what you might imagine.''
This wry comment serves as a nod and a wink from the filmmakers, a license to do what they will to Jon Ronson's amusing nonfiction account of the U.S. military's hush-hush research into psychic warfare and espionage.
What Clooney's producing partner, first-time director Grant Heslov, and his colleagues come up with is a hit-and-miss fictional narrative on which to string some of the brightest anecdotes Ronson uncovered about efforts to create warrior monks who try to walk through walls or glare animals to death.
The priceless opening scene — re-creating the start of Ronson's book as a general attempts to displace his molecules and run through his office wall — promises a Catch-22 or Strangelove-style satire.
But the book is a loosely connected journey from one absurdity to the next, sprouting offshoots and asides, great stand-alone burlesques and dramas that don't lend themselves to a cohesive film.
The dramatic spine developed by screenwriter Peter Straughan jettisons much of the book's darkest and most-compelling moments — a CIA murder plot, psychic warfare links to the Branch Davidians and the Heaven's Gate cult suicides — in favor of a gag-laden jaunt stretching from Vietnam through the war on terror.
Delivered with goofy gusto by Clooney and co-stars Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, Goats is fitful, undemanding, and ultimately lightweight humor.
Something of a stand-in for Ronson, McGregor's Bob Wilton is a reporter who stumbles onto the story of the New Earth Army, founded by Vietnam vet Bill Django (Bridges), the pioneer of New Age techniques meant to give his troops a spiritual edge and superpowers to win over enemies — or wipe them out.
Django's prize pupil is Lyn Cassady (Clooney), whom Wilton accompanies through a series of mishaps on a mission in Iraq.
Inspired by real people Ronson encountered, Cassady and Django have the scent of authenticity about them. Not so with Wilton and his awkward, ill-defined motivations for uncovering the story, or with Spacey's Larry Hooper, a psychic rival to Cassady who's a stiff contrivance meant to add tension.
The fictional plot line isn't terribly interesting, though it's nicely ornamented by little farces lifted from the book — a guy convinced that the Loch Ness monster is the ghost of a dinosaur, another who advises that Angela Lansbury somehow knows the whereabouts of Manuel Noriega (it was Kristy McNichol in the book, but same chuckle nonetheless).
The actors carry baggage that creates some unfortunate distractions. Clooney at times seems like a cross between his Desert Storm operator from Three Kings and his looney-tunes Odysseus from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Django plays a bit like Bridges' Dude from The Big Lebowski had he joined the Marines.
McGregor's Star Wars connection proves jarring as the film incorporates Ronson's references to psychic warriors as Jedi knights. It's cute once, but the repeated Jedi-speak in the presence of Obi-Wan himself grows tiresome.
In fits and starts, director Heslov captures a lot of the drolly incredulous spirit of the book. It's just too bad the dots don't connect better.
A fun tone is undermined by disjointed storytelling in George Clooney's The Men Who Stare at Goats, and it all starts with the disclaimer that opens the movie: ''More of this is true than what you might imagine.''
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