I enjoyed The Men Who Stare At Goats as I watched it. Part of me feels though, at the end of the day, that this movie frustrated me... possibly, it even disappointed me. Certainly, I laughed a lot at the movie. And if the movie was just joking around with us, I could have been happy. But the movie had something to say. Just what? I'm not exactly sure. It's a bit funny, the movie spends a good chunk of time poking fun at the characters in the film and their beliefs, but by the end, just seems to expect us to side with them. I feel like we're sent mixed messages throughout the film. It's opinionated enough to really prevent us from exploring the concepts on our own and doesn't follow through with really anything apart from cheap jokes at the expense of New Age/Hippie ideas and bad-mouthing straights. The film also can't seem to decide whether these techniques are actually effective, consistantly making fools of Bridges and Clooney's characters while also admitting that "Maybe they have super powers." Ewan McGreggor's own little "leap" of faith feels especially tagged on. Additionally, I couldn't really buy Ewan. I'm generally a bit of a fan, but his character was just completely unbelievable, probably just because he was a thin line to tie the past to the present. Even his motivation to go to Iraq is left as: He wanted to impress his wife? The films subject matter lends it to chuckles though. And some terribly fantastic actors are telling us the story. I especially liked Stephen Lang, who was intensely underused but I was fixated on the man whenever he was on screen. It was also amusing to see Nick Offerman without a moustache.
Whose that handsome devil staring at goats?
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