It was bound to happen. Someone had to try and copy the Coen Brothers style of wit and oddities. Grant Heslov has done just that by directing
The Men Who Stare at Goats, written by Peter Straughan (based on the book by Jon Ronson). For about the first 30 minutes it almost works. After that, the production falls victim to a giant stench of unfunny, un-dramatic, un-everything, garbage, except for an almost funny scene near the conclusion. This is a case of epic crash and burn after a promising beginning.
Bob Wilton (Ewan McGegor) is a reporter for a small newspaper in Michigan. The first time we see him on assignment, he is interviewing a nut job who talks of being involved in a mission for the U.S. Army called the First Earth Batalion. They were trained to use psychic powers as a weapon. Bob leaves the interview, exceptionally unimpressed. His wife soon dumps him for his one-armed editor, which is good for a few sight gags. This makes him want to achieve more. He wants to impress the woman who has tossed him aside.
A trip to Kuwait to cover Desert Storm is what he comes up with. But, he ends up living in comfortable quarters in Kuwait City, pretending to himself and via phone to his estranged wife that he is in the thick and craziness of war. Lying in his comfortable bed in his luxury hotel, kicking the wall and pretending it's incoming in order to impress her is the best he can muster as proof. At the hotel restaurant, Bob spots Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who is working undercover in Kuwait. Lyn is a combination of macho, suave and odd, not an unusual description for any Clooney character. In fact it's akin to his portrayal of Everett in
O Brother Where Art Thou (Coen Brothers), but what worked there simply does not work here.
The two of them head into Iraq together on a "top-secret" mission. What that mission is will be no clearer at the end of
The Men Who Stare at Goats than it was at the beginning. Along the way, interesting characters appear in flashbacks to Clooney's training as a Jedi Warrior, as they call themselves. Aside from the supremely talented goats, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) is easily the best part of the film even though he is apparently somewhat channeling The Dude from
The Big Lebowski (again, Coen Brothers - see what I mean?). Django started the team and our glimpses into his group training sessions contain some very funny moments. Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) plays an uptight bad guy among the Jedi Warriors but the very gifted actor is far less convincing than he usually is.
Like most comedies, the trailer contains all of the funny scenes, and after being bombarded by these trailers endlessly, when you actually see
The Men Who Stare at Goats, their power to make you laugh has already been sapped away. Toss any Coen Brothers film into your DVD or Blu-ray player and save your cash from being wasted on this pale imitation.
