The Men Who Stare at Goats

Drew's Thoughts:
Though The Men Who Stare at Goats, based on a book about U.S. Military experimentation with use of psychic powers, was savaged by the Reel Geezers I found it to be surprisingly good.
The film is not without flaws though. It's somewhat apparent that first timer Grant Heslov hasn't directed before as the film feels somewhat formless. And though stronger direction would have benefitted the film certainly, it is still mostly successful thanks to a funny script by Peter Straughn and the comic pairing of Ewan McGregor and George Clooney.
Clooney, who carpet bombed filmgoers this season with his presence upon the release of this, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up in the Air within the span of a month, somewhat surprisingly does his best work of the year here. I was discussing with a number of people recently Clooney's lack of range as an actor and how that is buffeted with his charisma. Clooney gets a little outside of his persona in this film which is nice to see. His wildly manic-depressive take on the character works well with Ewan McGregor's hesitant straight man. Whether he's engaging in sleep-deprived cackling, cursing the equipment that his own department designed or is just depressed and forlorn about the curse of death Kevin Spacey laid upon him, George Clooney is hilarious in this movie. Enough to make him a surprise, last-minute contender for a Best Actor nom at the upcoming Drews. (I did not see that coming.)
The film doesn't have much of a plot and considering how the best moments of the film are Clooney and McGregor bantering back and forth whilst stranded in a desert or in captivity, I feel like even less story would have been a more adventurous choice and yielded even better results. It's when the film broadens its scope somewhat to include peripheral characters played by Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey that the film's weaknesses become more apparent. Bridges and Spacey are fine and have funny moments but their characters aren't particularly well developed, at least not to fully congeal with the much better developed sphere that Clooney and McGregor occupy in the film.
Though it's a bit light, The Men Who Stare at Goats is funnier than most other films this year which is most certainly a worthwhile achievement.