George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges

The story of a secret unit within the US Army called the First Earth Battalion, whose paranormal military ideas mutated over the decades to influence interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay.

Flixster Users

53% liked it

145,602 ratings

Critics

54% liked it

156 critics

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Grant Heslov

Release Date: November 6, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (6,530)


  • December 4, 2009
    Picture
    The idea of psychic soldier sounds incredibly fascinating despite its ridiculousness. But in The Men Who Stare at Goats that ludicrous premise (or promise) is a thing of urban legend-cum-real-life-events. The clandestine program to program certain clairvoyance-gifted youn...( read more)g men depicted in this film is not a far cry from the actual programs that must've been in existence (and the cause of internal ridicule) in our arms forces' past.

    Ewan McGregor plays an American journalist bent on shaking off the remnants of a marriage gone wrong by actually doing something with his life. Therefore, he thinks of going to Iraq in the first weeks of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. There he meets a wacked-out George Clooney (who is still recovering from his days as a psychic soldier from the Vietnam era.)

    What turns into a goal for a story about Iraq, turns into a search for the truth behind what is knows as "The Men Who Stare at Goats." Clooney's character proclaims that he and his colleagues were able to stop a goat's heart by staring at it (long enough) and that he possesses many other mind-control devices within his own mind. And that if the enemy (the soviets, Iraqis or whomever) were to find out about them--well, it would be the end of...the program.

    Sounds funny, right? Kind of? A little? Maybe not. The movie falls under the wretched spell of it brilliant casting (which also includes Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey) and muddles any semblance of gravitas with a plot so convoluted, complex and downright confusing that you'll be lost before you know it. It's not so much that the machinations of the characters are too difficult to keep up with. It's the fact that I couldn't care less about them.

    Their lives weren't that interesting and their military goals weren't compelling enough to merit an entire movie being made about them. Some quirky little episodes ensue (Clooney's wreckless "cloud-bursting" strands them in the desert) but, overall, the movie ends up feeling like an empty vehicle to display shiny, high paid actors like Space, Clooney and McGregor.

    Perhaps the concept of this movie was brilliant. I can't tell. But the execution of the film itself was dull and abrasive. It really said nothing new about the military now and it said nothing amusing about the military then. It seemed a little self-serving and inaccessible for the general population. Of course, I am not a pot-smoking hippie now and I certainly wasn't around when most young Americans were either. So, maybe I'm just out of touch.
  • December 2, 2009
    A journalist accompanies an agent working for a secret, experimental psychic warfare Army unit (the Jedi Knights of the New Earth Army) on a mission deep into the Iraqi desert. Gets points for originality, but needed a lot more belly-laughs and a more satisfying conclusion. The ...( read more)star-studded cast (George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges) don't go far enough over the top, often seeming wasted.
  • November 22, 2009
    This is one of the movies that audiences and critics disagree majorly upon. For me, it was just a waste of talent. If there was something I was "supposed" to get, I didn't. When you have McGregor, Clooney, Spacey and Bridges in one movie, you expect it to blow you away. Instead I...( read more) was left unemotional, uninterested, and with many question marks. Sure, the acting is superb, sure there is great black humor in it, but the story couldn't be one I cared less for, and even so, the movie SHOULD make you care for it. It seemed random and marked by carelessness, and it was a movie that I'd expect to see 20 years ago - not today. I didn't enjoy it much, and hopefully if the four of the leading stars ever get to be in a movie together again, it will be a masterpiece.
  • November 21, 2009
    So funny. George Clooney and Jeff Bridges both give hilarious, fantastic performances. Be sure to pay attention or you'll miss the witty dialogue.
  • November 17, 2009
    a film as silly as its title, clooney was fantastic and the script was witty and clever through most of the film, but in the end it still fell a bit flat. not that i expected it too, but the story didnt actually amount to much. good for a solid laugh but not quite as clever as ...( read more)the coen comedies that this seemed like it was trying to be.
  • December 5, 2009
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  • December 5, 2009
    bull sh.....t
    dont bother watch
  • December 5, 2009
    FUNNY AND IRONIC CHECK THIS ONE OUT...LADIES MIGHT UNDERSTAND IT TOO
  • December 4, 2009
    Watch This Movie online FREE at http://MoviesWatch.info
  • December 3, 2009
    will love to see it ASAP

Critic Reviews


November 9, 2009
A.O. Scott, At the Movies

Everyone involved seems to have had a pretty good time, but this one looks like it was more fun to make than it is to watch. full review

November 6, 2009
Kurt Loder, MTV

What went wrong with this movie? full review

November 6, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

The film starts hopefully, drifts into the desert, ends up starved of point, pith and pattern. full review

November 5, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

There's no doubt we need more movies for grown-ups, with jokes that don't hit us over the head, but The Men Who Stare at Goats doesn't fit the bill. At best, it might hypnotize you into a stupor. full review

November 5, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

The yarn unravels without ever identifying its satirical targets. Is it a lampoon of peace-and-love mysticism? A critique of militant war-for-profit privateers? Ultimately, it's a shapeless wad of goa... full review

November 5, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

This is the anti-Hurt Locker experience: Where that Iraq War film was absorbing and deadly serious, The Men Who Stare at Goats is irreverent and lighthearted. full review

November 5, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

It's hard to resist a satire, even when it wobbles, that insists the most unbelievable parts are the most true. full review

November 5, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It actually doesn't matter if the book is truthful. It doesn't claim the paranormal powers are real. Ronson simply says some officials thought they might be -- and that if they were, we had to get the... full review

November 4, 2009
Armond White, The New York Press

It's smugness -- unleavened by wit -- that makes Goats so offensive. full review

November 2, 2009
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

Clooney gives it everything, but what does he get in return? A void where the story is meant to be. full review

View more The Men Who Stare at Goats reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • marcy51
    December 5, 2009
    Watch The Latest Movies Online FREE
    http://MoviesWatch.info
  • rebbecca20
    December 2, 2009
    super awesome movie one of he biggest hit of all time .i have watched it alread you can watch it here http://tiny4.us/kde2ck
  • esti15
    December 2, 2009
    Watch This Movie Online FREE
    http://MoviesWatch.info
  • alemagico
    November 18, 2008
    I just want to see this film to celebrate the triumph of all my friends for being part of this film. We were on the set of the film on Puerto Rico, were we live, and we did enjoy the time watching the explosives and the neiborghs getting inside the arabian sute to be killed and the destruction of the nicest cars on our island, Chevvrolets and Monteros..it was a waste, cause they could give those cars to us, hehe. And I want to see it too cause my friend Carlos is going to die on that scene of the gasoline arabian store.

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The Men Who Stare at Goats Trivia


  • Which is the location of the film "The Men who stare at the Goats"?  Answer »
  • In The Men Who Stare At Goats several characters claim to be 'Jedi Warriors' Which actor can claim that outside of the movie, as he portrayed a Jedi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy?  Answer »

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