Plot
A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.
Release Year: 2009
Rating: 6.3/10 (58,711 voted)
Critic's Score: 54/100
Director:
Grant Heslov
Stars: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey
Storyline A reporter, trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails, gets more than he bargains for when he meets a special forces agent who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. The founder of the unit has gone missing and the trail leads to another psychic soldier who has distorted the mission to serve his own ends.
Writers: Peter Straughan, Jon Ronson
Cast: George Clooney
-
Lyn Cassady
Ewan McGregor
-
Bob Wilton
Jeff Bridges
-
Bill Django
Kevin Spacey
-
Larry Hooper
Stephen Lang
-
Brigadier General Dean Hopgood
Robert Patrick
-
Todd Nixon
Waleed Zuaiter
-
Mahmud Daash
Stephen Root
-
Gus Lacey
Glenn Morshower
-
Major General Holtz
Nick Offerman
-
Scotty Mercer
Tim Griffin
-
Tim Kootz
Rebecca Mader
-
Debora Wilton
Jacob Browne
-
Lieutenant Boone
Todd La Tourrette
-
Dave
(as Todd Latourrette)
Brad Grunberg
-
Ron
Opening Weekend: $12,706,654
(USA)
(8 November 2009)
(2443 Screens)
Gross: $32,416,109
(USA)
(31 January 2010)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The one-sheet (advertising poster) for this movie is a spoof of a frequently used style for movie posters in which, instead of trying to communicate anything about the plot or content of the film, the poster just contains multiple stacked faces of the stars. On this poster, the last face visible in the row is a goat's, and the billing line above their photos reads, "George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Goat." Also, it's an obvious reference to the iconic drawing posters form Soviet communist era, showing profiles of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin (in some historic eras or world regions, often completed by profiles of Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong).
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
After Bob wakes up by the sand dune and sees the goat, as he gets up an ear plug is clearly visible in his right ear.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Brigadier General Dean Hopgood:
[with great concentration]
Boone. Lieutenant Boone:
Yes sir? Brigadier General Dean Hopgood:
I'm going into the next office. Lieutenant Boone:
Yes sir. Brigadier General Dean Hopgood:
[breaks into a sprint, slams into the wall, falls over]
Damn it.
User Review
Terrific movie! Hilarious, smart and interesting.
Rating: 8/10
I just got back from seeing "The Men Who Stare at Goats" at the
Woodstock Film Festival. I walked in knowing the main plot, and I
expected it to be pretty good because of the great actors it has, the
premise of the story and the music used in the soundtrack. My
expectations weren't only met, but they were greatly exceeded.
The story follows a broken-hearted journalist (McGregor) who goes on
the job to Iraq to prove to his ex-wife he isn't weak or frail. There,
he meets Lyn Cassidy (Clooney) who is a "psychic" soldier for the US
government, trained by his hippie instructor Billy (Bridges) to use his
mind, peace and love to overcome hairy military situations. The story
is the two mens' adventure together.
The movie is essentially broken down into I'd say 3 parts. The first
part is the main story of the journalist and Lyn as they travel in Iraq
on a special mission Lyn is on. The second is the very humorous
back-story of the history of the creation and existence of the "psychic
soldiers" of the military. When I say "back-story" and "history" I mean
the main background to Lyn and Billy's character, as well as the main
antagonist of the story, played by Kevin Spacey. The third part is the
first person narration provided by Ewen McGregor about the things that
are going on. He offers insight into his mind and opinions on the
things he says and of himself and Lyn as the story progresses.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a very hilarious movie, with many
quotable lines and excellent acting by the entire cast. The story is
very unique and the film uses that as a great advantage to itself in
setting up the humor. The characters are very real and are taken to
heart right away. The film is funny, intriguing, smart, witty,
fast-paced, emotional, enjoyable and inspirational. I highly recommend
it to any Ewen McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey or Jeff Bridges
fan, for fans of those men will not be disappointed with the acting and
mannerisms of the characters those actors portrayed.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a very fun movie to see in theaters and
everyone in my audience were cracking up laughing many, many times. It
is a movie for casual movie goers and film aficionados alike. Go see
it.
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