The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

The title The Men Who Stare at Goats makes me giggle all by itself. I find goats naturally funny animals, and I’ve stared at a few on occasion, but only for a laugh. Not to try and kill them with my mind like the men in this movie do. Well, one man, at least.

His name is Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), and he’s the best psychic soldier ever produced by the “New Earth Army,” a covert unit formed by the U.S. Army during the Reagan administration to develop psychic superpowers in response to the mental research of the Soviets, who were trying to respond to the psychic research they mistakenly assumed the U.S. was already doing. Got that? Good.

Lyn’s at a hotel in Kuwait during the early days of the Iraq war, when he’s befriended by Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a lonely newspaper reporter from Michigan. Bob has heard of Lyn from a crazy guy he once interviewed (Stephen Root), who claimed he killed one of his hamsters by staring at it. Lyn is wary at first meeting, but warms up to Bob when he discovers a sort of cosmic connection between them. Lyn’s heading into Iraq, Bob’s intended destination as well, so they venture off together across the desert.

As Lyn refers to himself and his former comrades as “Jedi warriors” in front of the actor who played young Obi-Wan Kenobi (I wonder how many outtakes there are of McGregor cracking up), Bob reads Lyn’s copy of the New Earth Army Manual and leads us into flashbacks of the unit’s formation, development, and eventual collapse.

It was the brainchild of a flower child — Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), who experienced an ethereal vision during a firefight in Vietnam in 1972, then somehow convinced the Army to support him for six years of virtually independent study through everything the new-age movements of the ’70s had to offer. He eventually returned to the military with a plan to develop super soldiers who could master such powers as the ability to walk through walls or stop conflicts by projecting thoughts of peace. Some of these techniques obviously failed to develop fully, though they did produce the Predator, a plastic device which looks like a kitchen tool but can hurt someone in a variety of ways, as Lyn enthusiastically demonstrates on Bob.

In a parallel structure reminiscent of Apocalypse Now, Lyn and Bob’s halting progress on their journey into Iraq is mirrored in the flashbacks detailing two major antagonizing factors. The first is Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), a snarky addition to the New Earth Army who causes an incident which leads to court-martial and the restructuring of the unit. (Warning: this scene coincidentally and unfortunately echoes this week’s shooting tragedy at Ft. Hood.) The second is when Lyn Cassady, the most developed of these psychic soldiers, is ordered to stare at a goat and kill it with his mind. They use goats because the soldiers couldn’t bear to see dogs or cats hurt, and neither can movie audiences, judging from their audible reactions. Lyn is now convinced he and the other “Jedi” are cursed because of his negative-energy action.

Frequently hysterical, the film also manages to sprinkle in thought-provoking factoids which may or may not be accurate, but certainly sound plausible. For instance, it’s mentioned that Reagan was both a fan of the Star Wars movies and had an interest in the paranormal. There’s an interesting tidbit dropped about the firing patterns of young soldiers during the Vietnam conflict. Was a gun battle in Ramadhi fought between two different independent contractors over occupancy of a gas station? These and other intriguing ideas pepper this story inspired by a supposedly non-fiction book by Jon Ronson. Fortunately, director Grant Heslov (who cowrote Good Night, And Good Luck with Clooney) never gets heavy-handed with delivering any message. Instead, he realizes you can win more hearts and minds with smiles than with frowns, so he plays up the comedy with a clever script which only sags during the bookend scenes concerning Bob’s life stateside. And even those brief moments have some comedy to lighten the load.

The Men Who Stare at Goats works best when any or all four of the principal actors are on screen. These guys are all on top of their acting game and obviously having a great time of it. Jeff Bridges is priceless, drawing obvious comparisons to his iconic role in The Big Lebowski, yet not replicating that part. Instead, he exhibits an even wider dimension to his range, particularly in the later part of the picture. Kevin Spacey is compelling due to his ability to walk the razor-thin margin between comedy and drama, and Ewan McGregor gets better nearly every time I see him. Here, he particularly excels at his American accent, exhibits a flair for physical comedy, and makes a great acting partner opposite George Clooney. For his part, the former ER star is flat-out funny, and his delivery and timing are a powerhouse combination when added to his already considerable charm.

I enjoyed seeing this movie anchored by four gifted comic actors, rather than four “comedians” working in their shticks. I also give kudos to the producers for filming this movie on American soil (specifically New Mexico and Puerto Rico, standing in for Iraq and Kuwait) rather than going abroad. It’s a clever film in many respects, with the end credits assuring us that no animals were harmed. So hamsters and goats can rest easy, though some of us may continue to stare at them.

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