Review of The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) by Dawdlingpoet — 26 Nov 2021

This is very much a bizarre movie, with some intriguing characters, or zany might be a better description. This is a movie which you have to concentrate on, to try to follow or you'll be pretty lost but its pretty 'out there' and so is quite confusing by nature anyway - its quite surreal and has a hippy type undertone to it, with the plot about trying to develop ways of being deadly without being physically aggressive, so alternative peaceful violence I suppose, if such a term is even logical(?!).

George Clooney seemed in his element in this movie, with him once again portraying a quite off the wall character, with that sparkle in his eye, the knowing look that he knows exactly what he's talking about, even though its all a bit random or over the top. He certainly comes across as very self assured and quirky, a character you feel intrigued to learn more about and see what the truth is behind their supposed 'paranormal abilities'. The script is quite good, in that throughout I felt interested to find out what was going to happen, some of the dialogue seemed quite clever, even if I couldn't always put my finger on precisely why. There's an absurdity to it thats quite amusing, take the example of one scenes involving soldiers in full camoflague uniform all basically dancing very loosely, moving about in exaggerated, jerky movements, as if rather drunk - its bizarre but somehow a good bit of fun, I suppose.

Some of the dialogue is really quite (you guessed it) baffling but its also quite amusing and has a parody feel to it, such as government, military officials in a formal setting discussing supposed discoveries of other governments finding out things other governments had done and the response being which was this, I dont remember this and (but of course!) they say ah we didn't, we just wanted them to think we knew they knew that we did such and such...yes, its all a bit confusing but there's something clever and amusing about it none the less. Some of the scenes are alot more basic than others, such as Bob and Lyn sat in the desert, flipping coins. The movie is filmed, and narrated at points, in a way in which it comes across like a factual documentary, which also adds to the parody and comedy elements, I feel.

The use of the term 'Jedi' (as in people being 'Jedi trainers' and talk of 'the way of the Jedi') said in a matter of fact fashion made this seem quite amusing, as if genuine soldiers could be trained in the way of the Jedi! it made me chuckle when I'd hear reference to that.

To me, this movie felt like it had an element of folklore about it, or more as far as the plot is concerned, I suppose. Its like an urban legend or something like that. Its certainly quite imaginative and the characters kept me interested throughout, due to their offbeat nature. I remember thinking that this is the kind of story that perhaps a younger person would write - its based on the novel by Jon Ronson but I wouldn't know how old he was when he wrote it(!), it just has a sort of a childlike quality to it somehow, a naivety perhaps.

Its quite funny and very offbeat but there's also somewhat of a sinister undertone to it - as already mentioned, paranoia is something I picked up on. Of course its not to be taken too seriously but it may make you think perhaps and I felt it was good for being a slightly different movie - if I had to name similar movies or similar types of movies, I'd probably suggest comparing it with perhaps movies such as Burn After Reading and the Coen brothers movies in general, perhaps - that or I Heart Huckabees, which also comes to mind.

Content wise, there's little in the way of violence or strong language, from what I remember but it does contain drug references (which is perhaps not much of a surprise). I imagine most young kids would struggle to understand it but then most adults would find it pretty strange too, so that doesn't necessarily say much. It certainly won't appeal to everyone but for what it is, a quirky, zany movie with some funny moments and one or two interesting themes, its decent and certainly quite watchable, as I found it quite intriguing, if not perhaps a bit too 'out there'. I'd like to end this section by saying that I thought the ending was quite telling, it ends on an interesting plot twist, which I quite liked. I also liked the use of one or two 70s (I think their from the 70s anyway, either the 70s or the 80s) American power ballads, which added energy and a youthfulness to the movie at those points. Other than that, I'm not sure if there's anything much else I can say - suffice to say, its one of those movies that you have to see yourself, to decide what to make of it - some people may switch off fairly early on and think its a bit too much and others may get really into it and find it very entertaining, amusing and enjoyable - you have to see it for yourself and come to your own conclusions but this review obviously covers my personal thoughts on it.