Will Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goats be the greatest George Clooney movie of all time? If you’re a fan of the actor/director’s work in Three Kings, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Burn After Reading and Syriana, then it’s possible you’ll see this as the military/CIA satire he’s been working towards his whole career. The fact that it seems like it should or could have been directed by the Coen Bros. — costars Jeff Bridges, Stephen Root and J.K. Simmons have all worked with the filmmaking duo in addition to Clooney — provides further evidence that this might well be the epitome of Clooney’s career.
Based on the non-fiction book by Jon Ronson, Goats is about a reporter (Ewan McGregor) working on a story about a U.S. Army unit employing psychic soldiers. Clooney is one of these “Jedi warriors,” as you can see in the trailer when he bursts clouds and knocks over goats with his mind. One particular bit of slapstick stolen from the underseen Special has me a little worried about the humor here. But how can I not want to see a movie that basically seems to insert “The Dude” into a modern day cross between DePalma’s The Fury and Spies Like Us?
Check out other film blog reactions to the trailer after the jump:
- Mark at I Watch Stuff sees this as “Coen with aspartame”:
This trailer for Men Who Stare at Goats is basically Diet Coen Brothers. I’m not going to say it will completely fulfill you in the same way a refreshing Coen Brothers will, but I think you’ll detect enough of that distinctly Coen flavor in Grant Heslov’s comedy–especially with a mustached George Clooney and long-haired, druggie Jeff Bridges–that it should at least tide you over until you can get the real deal
- Lane Brown at Vulture offers some more similarities to a Coen Bros. film:
[Clooney's] regrown his O Brother mustache and cast himself alongside Jeff Bridges, who appears to be playing a telekinesis-enhanced cousin of the Dude in military dress…As we learned with Leatherheads, it’s difficult to intuit simply from a trailer whether Coen-y Clooney movies will be funny or lame, but the use of “More Than a Feeling” here is clever enough.
- Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood is excited to see another Coen-esque Clooney role:
Grant Heslov’s comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats looks pretty funny, I must say. I love George Clooney in full-on dimwit mode (see: O Brother, Where Art Thou?).
- Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects references another great Clooney in Coen Bros. role:
I love goofy ass George Clooney. He’s a solid dramatic actor, but (much like Brad Pitt) he’s at his best when he explores the more quirky, smirky, crazy bastard roles. His character here looks to be an extreme example of the weirdo he played in Burn After Reading which can only be a good thing.
- The Playlist doesn’t want to mention the Coens, but does:
We’ll try to not use the term Coen-esque because it doesn’t seem that screwball-y or quirky (not to mention, it’s facile and overused), but there are some similar shades there. Jeff Bridges as a hippie-like teacher who helps these guys kill and maim people with “Jedi mindtricks” seems pretty damn funny.
- Vince Mancini at Film Drunk thinks it could possibly use a little less slapstick:
I’m on the fence…I counted four jokes in the trailer that involved someone getting hit in the face, which is never a good sign. But on the plus side… Boston. Man, if I had a nickle for every time I got date raped to that song.
- Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere is also disappointed by the Blake Edwards-style slapstick all over the trailer:
All I can tell you is that before watching the trailer, I was semi-pumped about seeing this film in Toronto. I had presumed Heslov, a very smart guy on Clooney’s wavelength and vice versa, would play down the inherently bizarre material and keep it real and let the wackazoid stuff speak for itself. But now, having seen the trailer, I’m feeling a little bit worried. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be. Maybe this is just a matter of the Overture trailer guys looking to bring in the dumb-asses.
- Michelle Collins at Best Week Ever, responding to an earlier post wondering if the film’s title is literal, thinks the movie could still use more goats:
Even if this is a war movie that might not have any goats, we will choose to believe it is full of them.
Today, we catch our first glimpse of the trailer. And, you guys… there is NARY A GOAT TO BE SEEN. OK, maybe one, but we’re pretty sure that’s George Clooney…
- Gabe at Videogum wishes the book was made into a documentary (which it was) instead:
if it had been a documentary, then the very weird and hilarious details from the book, which are real, would have been super weird and super hilarious because of how when things are real then there is no willful suspension of disbelief, there is just belief and disbelief mixed together, because that is life, jump into life. Instead, it has a semi-generic, strangely common-place military farce feel to it (has anyone else noticed how common-place military farces have become? It’s a real catch-22).
- Big Hollywood is not into the constant military mocking from Hollywood:
With so many tales of military heroism left to tell, Clooney and Company choose this…
“But “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is inspired by a “true” story,” they’ll say…
But why is it always these kinds of “true” stories that get picked?
- Kofi Outlaw at ScreenRant believes even pro-military people will find the trailer funny:
Come on, even all you pro-military Screen Rant readers out there have to admit its pretty funny to try to develop psychic weapons by having soldiers stare at goats! In that context, the title really speaks to the absurdity of warfare and certain militaristic mindsets (I AM NOT BAD MOUTHING THE MILITARY). So scary to think this all happened (is happening?) in real life…
- S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline, who sees this as “Inglourious Basterds for the Iraq era,” isn’t even certain the trailer does poke fun at the military:
I’m not quite sure what’s being sent up (if anything): Army decorum? The military-industrial complex? Journalists? Enh, who cares? Heslov and his ensemble know what they’re doing, as does Overture, which even makes one of the fall movie season’s most unwieldy, unsellable titles look good in the end.
- Owen Williams at Empire sees this potentially more like a Dr. Strangelove for the Iraq era:
The movie, which is looking awesome, gives us McGregor in the Ronson role (renamed Bob Wilton and saddled with an American accent), and a twitchy Clooney as Lyn Cassidy; a reactivated psychic spy and “Jedi warrior”…We’re intrigued about the part where McGregor is being strangled by a guy with a Dr Strangelove arm.
- Dustin Rowles at Pajiba celebrates the film’s screenwriter and hopes for his sake and career that this is a hit:
Peter Straughan, wrote the script. And it’s a great goddamn script about an Army Battalion that employs paranormal powers in their missions (assuming Goats performs well at the box-office, Straughan has two other scripts in development: The Inventor is a dark romantic comedy about what would happen if a fan could become the person he idealizes; and Our Brand Crisis, which has been optioned by Clooney, focuses on American political campaign strategies used in South America.
Here’s the trailer:
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