Oscar contenders stare at goats

There is a reason nobody has heard of a recent war movie with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor in it. ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ sets out to become a hip satire on war, ends as a scattered movie with no direction


Let’s do a little refreshing on this year’s Oscars. A movie on the Iraq War swept the race, garnering six Oscars including Best Picture, and Jeff Bridges won the Best Actor award, beating fellow nominee George Clooney. Just two weeks after the Oscar ceremony, a movie called The Men Who Stare at Goats comes to theaters. It is about the Iraq War, and it stars Bridges and Clooney.

You don’t remember the movie from the Oscars, and it’s quite likely that you haven’t heard of the movie at all. If you happen to catch the movie in theaters this week, chances are that you probably won’t be remembering it next week. Clooney, Bridges, along with Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey star in this satire of the string of wars the USA has contributed to modern world history from Vietnam to recent Iraq War.

The Men Who Stare at Goats has everything to become the next cult movie of the 2000s: A totally fresh look at the dynamics of war, a dash of paranormal activity, wacky characters, and top-notch actors to play these wacky characters. Everything might look good on paper, but director Grant Heslov gives some memorable scenes scattered into a generally mediocre movie.


The Dude reprises his role

Ewan McGregor plays a suburban journalist, Bob Wilton, who accidentally stumbles onto a bizarre story about a division of the U.S. army made up of soldiers with psychic powers. As the story goes, the psychic warriors go through the walls, read enemy minds, and can kill goats by staring at them.

Heart-broken, Bob decides that the best solution to win his ex-wife back is to go to war. In Kuwait, he meets one of the ex-recruits of this psychic division, Lyn Cassady (Clooney). Bob follows Lyn on his secret mission. As the two travel to Middle East, we learn about the history of the psychic division, and how it flourished under the leadership of the Vietnam veteran, New Age guru Djangu. Bridges shines as Djangu, in a role similar to the Dude in Big Lebowski.

Kevin Spacey plays Hooper, an ambitious infiltrator into the division. He’s upset about the whole thing, but it’s not clear why. Clooney and McGregor try their best, but they have no story and no direction to work toward. The film probably sets out to be a fresh and hip blend of Dr. Strangelove and Big Lebowski. In the end, it only gives you blotches of what could have been.

Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News on 19 March 2010