The Men Who Stare at Goats
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Who's in it: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
What's it about: This allegedly true story follows a newspaper reporter (McGregor) chasing a scoop about the Army's special squad of warriors with psychic powers.
Mind control: The reporter, in Kuwait during the first Iraq war, meets a guy (Clooney) who may or may not be part of that special project. As they try to reach an American base, he hears the story about this experiment - which gets wilder and shaggier the longer it goes on. Clooney is wonderfully clenched as a man who is scared of his own abilities, while Jeff Bridges has a blissed-out looniness as the leader of the psychic warriors. And Spacey is perfect as the guy in the group who wants to use his ability for evil purposes.
Long story short: Resistance is futile to this brainy comedy.
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