Review: The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)

[Tim Skirvin]

  When Jon Ronson, the author of the book version of _The Men Who
Stare At Goats_ appeared on _The Daily Show_ a few months back, he amused
me with his story: a (non-fiction) look at the US Military's attempts to
harness psychic and new-agey techniques for combat purposes.  He came in
primarily to talk about the book, but it was in relation to the upcoming
movie version; and at the very least, I was intrigued.  But when the time
came to see the movie, I was a little bit less enthused; after all, the
movie is "inspired by" the book, not "based on".  This concept has worried
me every time that I've run across it - think _I, Robot_, which proves my
point quite well, or _Starship Troopers_, which at least shows that it
doesn't always end badly.  Regardless, I went into the movie without reading
the book, but open to the idea that there was something fun there.

  Well...  there were some good parts.

  The movie turns out to be an absurd comedy, trying to show off the
silliness of a bunch of military-types taking themselves seriously while
find their chakras and (yes) kill goats with their minds.  There is a story
behind it, but it's hardly relevant to the situation and its associated
comedy, and more often than not it gets left behind so the main characters
can tell lengthy stories, detailing sections of the history of the project.
Most of the laughter comes from this (maddeningly divided) history; and
honestly, those stories were told better in front of Jon Stewart.

  The most *clever* joke of the movie is based around the casting.
The soldiers trained in psychic warfare are referred to as "Jedi", and one
of the two stars of the movie is Ewan McGregor.  This made me laugh, at
least, even if most of the rest didn't...

  Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this movie.  I was just
disappointed.  Before the movie began, there was a commercial for Levi's
Jeans.  This isn't unusual.  What is unusual is that a) the commercial
involved a shot of Multnomah Falls, and b) I had been there about 45
minutes before the movie began.  Sadly, this amused me more than the movie
itself.

  **

                           - Tim Skirvin (tskirvin at killfile.org)
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