The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Grant Heslov

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay)
Jon Ronson (book)

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

No goats. No glory.

Plot:

A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.

Plot Keywords:

Animal In Title | Goat | Psychic Power

US Showtimes:

The Bridge: Cinema de lux

12:15pm | 2:05 | 2:35 | 4:55 | 7:15 | 7:45 | 9:35 | 10:05 | 12:15 | 2:35 | 4:55 | 7:15 | 9:35

(personalize)

Cast

George Clooney	...	Lyn Cassady
Ewan McGregor	...	Bob Wilton
Jeff Bridges	...	Bill Django
Kevin Spacey	...	Larry Hooper
Stephen Lang	...	Brigadier General Dean Hopgood
Robert Patrick	...	Todd Nixon
Waleed Zuaiter	...	Mahmud Daash
Stephen Root	...	Gus Lacey
Glenn Morshower	...	Major General Holtz
Nick Offerman	...	Scotty Mercer
Tim Griffin	...	Tim Kootz
Rebecca Mader	...	Debora Wilton
Jacob Browne	...	Lieutenant Boone
Todd La Tourrette	...	Dave
Brad Grunberg	...	Ron

Also Known As:

L'uomo che fissa le capre (Italy) [it]
Männer, die auf Ziegen starren (Germany) [de]
Oi antres pou koitoun epimona katsikes (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some drug content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45563) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia)

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

The one-sheet (advertising poster) for this movie is a spoof of a frequently used style for movie posters in which, instead of trying to communicate anything about the plot or content of the film, the poster just contains multiple stacked faces of the stars. On this poster, the last face visible in the row is a goat's, and the billing line above their photos reads, "George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Goat."

Quotes:

Lyn Cassady: [driving up behind a running prisoner yelling out the window] It's ok we're Americans, we're here to help you!
Bob Wilton: [Truck shakes and rattles a little bit] What happened?
Lyn Cassady: I think I just ran him over. Oh crap.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

Oudistic

Boy, are the 60's back.

This movie is another 60's-era nostalgia piece for elderly "new-age"-ers, complete with a pipe-dream fantasy of their final triumph. Hollywood just can't get enough of this market segment, in part because "the Age of Aquarius" fits so nicely with their political agenda.

With that said, "Goats" is a decent-enough movie, and is much more watchable than most of the recent breathless Hollywood editorials. It's at its best when it's poking a little fun at some of the loonier extremes of the New Age Movement, but it lacks energy - they are the gentle, loving pokes that might be given to a cherished grandmother who let the bathtub run over. As far as grandmom goes, it would be hard to see anyone much under 55 really being that into this movie, and it is extremely careful not to offend that crowd. Possibly because of this, it lacks the energy of better satire. It's propped up in part by some solid individual performances, but generally feels listless and limp.

Overall, it would make a good companion piece to that other goat, "Hair," in a before-and-after kind of way.