Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats
November 11th 2009 04:53
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009, Heslov)
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a disjointed, cluttered, and unfocused war farce that fails on every level. The film stars Ewan McGregor as a reporter, Bob Wilton, who has just lost his wife and, for some reason, decides to, “Do what every man does when he has his heart broken… go to war.” This narration comes to us amidst lengthy footage of George Bush on TV (the film takes place in 2003, with flashbacks to the 70’s and 80’s). We are then greeted to an odd, out of place credits sequence of war-laden footage (and more George Bush, never a good thing) set in time to “Alright” by Supergrass. The banality of the script is present from the get-go. Bob decides to ‘go to war’ but he doesn’t enlist in the army. Instead he’s hanging out in a hotel in Kuwait awaiting entrance into Iraq. Why? What’s the reason? And apparently this is supposed to prove something to his wife and she’ll take him back?
The film suffers from oversaturated narration; this device is supposed to enlighten viewers as to the characters personalities and motivations yet succeeds in alienating us further. There is never an established connection. Further, most of Bob’s narration is regarding information he’s never been privy to. This is further highlighted in a scene in which George Clooney’s character, Lynn Cassady, is narrating a section of his flashback to Bob, only to have Bob take over said narration halfway through. Confused yet? The film’s modern day plot is utterly pointless and serves only as a catalyst to explain the flashbacks, which, while highly self-contained and uneven, still prove to be the most interesting scenes. And that’s not saying much.
Even the title, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is a fallacy. We see one man stare at a goat, and that one action causes this man to deflect from the army. We never see any ‘men’ staring at said goats. At the film’s start, viewers are treated to an inane title card informing, “More of this story is true than you would believe.” It’s this kind of self-awareness that ultimately makes The Men Who Stare at Goats fail. The film tries to be too clever for its own good; there are many montage sequences which attempt to pull off ‘quirky funny’ but never rise above ‘painfully awkward’.
Ewan McGregor is awful. For an actor who once had such screen presence, he brings nothing to this film. His character is whiney and annoying and he appears to be overacting in nearly every scene. George Clooney does what he can in the role and is the only mildly interesting character in the film. Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are wasted on bad material. Peter Straughan’s screenplay is appalling and there is nothing innovative or unique about the direction. Perhaps director Heslov (who co-penned Good Night and Good Luck with Clooney) should have donned the scriptwriting hat and left the direction to Clooney.
The film’s conclusion is devoid of logic and ultimately a chaotic mess as it attempts to wrap up a plot that was spiraling out of control for 90 minutes.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a disjointed, cluttered, and unfocused war farce that fails on every level. The film stars Ewan McGregor as a reporter, Bob Wilton, who has just lost his wife and, for some reason, decides to, “Do what every man does when he has his heart broken… go to war.” This narration comes to us amidst lengthy footage of George Bush on TV (the film takes place in 2003, with flashbacks to the 70’s and 80’s). We are then greeted to an odd, out of place credits sequence of war-laden footage (and more George Bush, never a good thing) set in time to “Alright” by Supergrass. The banality of the script is present from the get-go. Bob decides to ‘go to war’ but he doesn’t enlist in the army. Instead he’s hanging out in a hotel in Kuwait awaiting entrance into Iraq. Why? What’s the reason? And apparently this is supposed to prove something to his wife and she’ll take him back?
The film suffers from oversaturated narration; this device is supposed to enlighten viewers as to the characters personalities and motivations yet succeeds in alienating us further. There is never an established connection. Further, most of Bob’s narration is regarding information he’s never been privy to. This is further highlighted in a scene in which George Clooney’s character, Lynn Cassady, is narrating a section of his flashback to Bob, only to have Bob take over said narration halfway through. Confused yet? The film’s modern day plot is utterly pointless and serves only as a catalyst to explain the flashbacks, which, while highly self-contained and uneven, still prove to be the most interesting scenes. And that’s not saying much.
Even the title, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is a fallacy. We see one man stare at a goat, and that one action causes this man to deflect from the army. We never see any ‘men’ staring at said goats. At the film’s start, viewers are treated to an inane title card informing, “More of this story is true than you would believe.” It’s this kind of self-awareness that ultimately makes The Men Who Stare at Goats fail. The film tries to be too clever for its own good; there are many montage sequences which attempt to pull off ‘quirky funny’ but never rise above ‘painfully awkward’.
Ewan McGregor is awful. For an actor who once had such screen presence, he brings nothing to this film. His character is whiney and annoying and he appears to be overacting in nearly every scene. George Clooney does what he can in the role and is the only mildly interesting character in the film. Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are wasted on bad material. Peter Straughan’s screenplay is appalling and there is nothing innovative or unique about the direction. Perhaps director Heslov (who co-penned Good Night and Good Luck with Clooney) should have donned the scriptwriting hat and left the direction to Clooney.
The film’s conclusion is devoid of logic and ultimately a chaotic mess as it attempts to wrap up a plot that was spiraling out of control for 90 minutes.
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This one is on my to watch list because the subject intrigues and the trailer was richly humorous. The BBC documentary on the real story is quite fun too..you can watch the Jon Ronson doco by clicking HERE
I have read a few mediocre reviews for it, so I am prepared for disappointment but Bridges and Spacey mean it is an unavoidable screening.