Review of The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) by Michael Y — 24 Feb 2011

Beginning with the words, "More of this is true than you would believe." The Men Who Stare at Goats is a 'too weird to believe' story, though no matter how silly it may be, there's a little method to the madness.

Based on the NON FICTION book, The Men Who Stare at Goats follows a reporter's journey with a man who claims to have been involved with a secretly trained military force who specialize with soldiers who have paranormal powers. Though the reporter thinks the man he's interviewing is beyond insane, series of events follow that not only slowly convince him of the secret project, but helps him find a kind of meaning to his life. The movie might be fiction, but the training of paranormal powers in the military isn't. But what this movie tries to get across isn't what's true or not, but what people are capable of doing if they believe hard enough that they are special. And that kind of theme just picks you right up off of anyones bad mood.

This movie is hilarious for many reasons. Not just because of the bizzar story, but because the movie isn't made like a comedy. This movie is made like a real military drama and it's that contradiction from the comedy of the story that makes this movie more entertaining than one would think. Nice production went into the sets, the lighting at times is very hard and dramatic, and the cinematography takes on interesting positions. This movie absolutely doesn't look like a comedy, but it is, and that makes it unique.

This movie is a unique and hilarious comedy. Though the concept is silly, it's actually quite real. And though the story is more of a comedy than anything, the themes of the movie and the characters bring out a realization of life that's "more than a feeling". (reference intended) And that's something that our lead protagonist discovers in this very amusing movie.