'The Men Who Stare at Goats' is a dark comedy directed by Grant Heslov which revolves around Bob Wilton, a reporter for the Daily Telegram and his time getting to know Lyn Cassady who claims to be a retired US psychic-spy.
This is of course no ordinary meeting as Wilton gets dragged along for the strangest ride of his life when he decides to follow Cassady on his current mission for the US Special Forces unit called the ‘Jedi Knights’.
He quickly learns of the Jedi powers of walking through walls, invisibility, visual teleportation and more interestingly cloud bursting. Loosely based on the book by Jon Ronson, Heslov (Good Night and Good Luck, Enemy of the State) brings to life a truly witty and quirky story.
This peculiar film is strewed with some very memorable performances and none stand out quite as much as that of George Clooney who plays Special Forces operator Lyn Cassady. Clooney’s quirky and at times twitchy performance is a great testament to his ability to play an assortment of characters and play them well.
There were moments that Cassady was larger than life but never a moment where you’d be able to question his sincerity. In fact his Jedi mind tricks seem quite potent even on unsuspecting audience members regardless of how incredibly improbable his arguments sound. Jeff Bridges, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Crazy Heart this year, also gave a commendable performance as the hippie of all hippies and founder of the Jedi legion, Bill Django. Bridges suited the role perfectly and his performance gave colour and vigour to the film as well as a more obvious sense of comic relief. Ewan McGregor who plays the journalist Bob Wilton out to prove his worth after his wife leaves him also gives a decent performance although his American accent can be called into question more than a few times.
The film’s story line is more than a little strange and so are the sequence of events that take place in it but its eccentricities are really what make the film memorable. It’s constant reference to Jedi and the force and of course the irony of Obi Wan himself learning about it in the course of the film gave a comical twist to it, if it ever needed one. With Cassady wanting to use the psychic force for good and Larry Hooper, played by Kevin Spacey, being more attracted to the dark side of the force, an intense rivalry is created which can also be cross referenced to the Lucas classics.
The film however does well to steer clear of becoming some sort of glorified spoof film but deals with completely different issues altogether. The film is certainly not for everyone and its critical reception clearly projected the mixed sentiments over it as some hated and others loved it. Still, the film is worth a watch at least, while for some it’ll be one of those quirky pieces of cinema that’ll live long in the memory and leave a lasting impression as well. |
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