The Men That Stare At Goats

This Story Is More True Than You Might Want To Believe

[George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges]

My brother-in-law, Bill, came into town for part of the week on business and came to visit me for the weekend. Of course, we went from the LIRR to home to drop off some luggage, then head directly out to the movie theatre for the next batch of releases. After the movies, we went to Taco Bell for a snack. The front door to the place was 4 feet wide and the booth seats we sat in were so far away from the table top that I could barely reach my chicken soft tacos. I guess the franchise decided to use funhouse optical effects to quell our worries of our ever-increasing waistlines. Interestingly enough, the soft taco portions are so much smaller than when I was in college, but I used to be able to buy tacos in batches of 12 in a box? 

Ewan McGregor plays Bob, a reporter in a rut after fluff articles and his wife leaving him for the paper's editor. In order to prove his worth, he heads to Kuwait in an attempt to venture into Iraq and report the real stories from the battlefront. Unable to cross the border, Bob runs into George Clooney's Lyn Casady, a retired member of the U.S. Army's black-op program using paranormal abilties on their missions. Looking for a way into Iraq for Bob leads him to a story he never expects.

Being a fan of both George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, I was interested in what to expect from this movie. The trailer and commercials never give you a true sense of what to expect. What you do get is a film with a sense of humor, an intriguing storyline, and some morality. Both actors put in fine performances as you would expect, and McGregor's narrative provides a good pace between his pursuit of the story and the story that Clooney has to tell leading up to his current mission.

Jeff Bridges puts together a psi-ops teams for the government that develops "jedi warriors" and "warrior monks" to combat the enemy, as well as combat the way we monger war. In an age where Americans involved in war is too commonplace, it is refreshing to believe that our government could actually spend budget dollars on a program that was initially created to shorten or avoid conflict.  But with all thing involving our government and its military, most good intentions do not remain so for long. You will have to see the movie to learn more.

The film opens with the statement ".... that more of this film is true than you may believe". I can be guaranteed that many Americans believe that a chunk of the military spending is spent on programs such as that depicted in this story. There is even a sequence of events that satires the wonderful world of our war profiteering in a war of our own creation. In spite of the all-too-real settings, McGregor and Clooney provide enough chemistry, story and humor to keep our "really" dark thoughts of war away. 

Worth: Matinee and a Netflix