As you have may have guessed from incredibly witty title to day I will be looking at the wonderful Men Who Stare At Goats. Anyone with a phobia of goats should probably stop reading now as everything is about to get slightly agricultural. That is not because the film is about goat herders and their wonderfully exciting lives sitting in the rain under a tent made out of misery. Instead the film goes on an exciting path that I will treat you to in full in just a second. I want to send out my apologies once again. I have still not recovered from my life threatening case of man flu and am hoping to move off of my own life saving treatment (paracetamol) in the next few days. This will lead to a whole new round of FilmWipe and my ever increasing Everest of a challenge to write 365 film reviews in a year. Frankly, I have got about as much hope of achieving this as Richard Blackwood has of becoming the British Will Smith. We all remember the coffee enema Richard and we all know where your future lies. Collecting your weekly food ration from Bow job centre along with an extra side of syphilis thanks to all the bumming your going to have to do in order to earn enough money to pay someone to watch the betamax tapes of when you were vaguely famous. Every day you’re not on television is a day that millions of people can sleep at night knowing that they were not driven to attempting suicide.
Anyway back to the film. The film is about Bob Wilton (Ewan Mcgregor) a small town reporter who thinks he has the perfect life. However, after a chance interview with a man who claims to have been trained to by the army to use his brain so that he has psychic abilities. Shortly after this Bob’s life falls apart. His wife leaves him which sparks his journey to Kuwait in order to gain an exclusive on the Iraq War. Here he meets Lyn Cassady who reveals himself to be one of the key figures in this psychic army. Together they go on an adventure across Iraq to complete an undefined mission in a hostile country.
The film is derived from a story written by the wonderfully bazaar mind of Jon Ronson. He has gone for a strange but highly entertaining take on the Iraq war and manages to make a number of criticisms of the failings of the British and American invasions without turning it into a pandering demeaning festival of unintelligible drivel like Lions for Lambs.
The film itself is a treat. The acting is absolutely superb. George Clooney steals the show from start to finish. Rarely has an actor clearly relished a role as much as Mr Clooney has done with this. His portrayal of Lyn Cassady is undoubtedly one of the cinematic highlights of 2009. He manages to mix the strange, disillusional, psychotic and authoritative with an effortless charm that carries the film from start to finish. He also manages to drag Ewan McGregor kicking and screaming into giving a performance worthy of an actor of his unquestionable talent.
I will freely admit that I can easily lose interest in Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. This may partiallly be caused by their strange double act in K-Pax or (and this is purely for Bridges) his performance in Arlington Road made me want him to be involved in a fatal accident. However, Bridges certainly redeemed himself in my eyes with his performance. He is actually enjoyable to watch. You forget the wilderness years where highlights included the lukewarm Seabiscuit and the equally unenjoyable The Moguls. Spacey on the other hand is someone I have always revered and thought a great deal of even if I have loathed many of his performances (Superman Returns and The Life of David Gale). It is difficult to see if he has managed to put his acting back into first gear or if he still stuck in reverse (Current highlights include adverts for airlines, seriously they are better than his film acting). However, he is enjoyable to watch and should be celebrated as the creepy American who controls so much of British theatre.
Plaudits really need to be given to director Grant Heslov. He successfully managed to keep a film which has the potential to be strange and annoying to be sharp witty and highly poignant (As well as being slightly strange).
Overall I recommend this to anyone, apart from goats. Although if you are watching a film with a goat I think it is time to attach a pipe to the exhaust of your car, put the other end of the pipe in through the passenger window, close all other doors and windows, and sit back and relax as you speed away to a painless suicide.
8/10 Goatastic
Tags: 2009, arlington road, coffee enema, ewan mcgregor, film review, film reviewer, film reviews, films iraq, films iraq war, george clooney, goats, grant heslov, iraq war, jeff bridges, jon ronson, kevin spacey, lions for lambs, men who stare at goats, men who stare at goats film review, richard blackwood, seabiscuit, superman returns, the life of david gale, the moguls, will smith
