Day 24: "Silence of the goats."

Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats was not exactly what I thought it would be.  It was better.  It was weird in a very good way.  Very much a comedy in the vein of Joel and Ethan Coen, Goats uses both subtlety and the outrageous to make you laugh.  The story of a struggling, desperate reporter's journey to the Middle East for a story takes him on a trip down one of the most bizarre roads in (fictional or not) U.S military history.  He meets up with a "psi-spy" on a covert mission and learns the history of a branch of Covert Operations no one would possibly believe.  Calling themselves "Jedi" was especially amusing for me, as I am quite the Star Wars nerd, but I wondered how George Lucas must have felt if he saw this.  My concerns were misguided, however, as the title is used with respect and obvious affection by those referred to by it.  I also don't normally point out use of the score or any music in general in my observations, but this is an exception.  Hands down, the best use of Boston ever, albeit briefly. 

The cast obviously had a lot of fun making this, as the performances are not too over the top as to make them completely unbelievable.  Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, and Kevin Spacey are funny as hell in their roles.  McGregor plays straight man to Clooney's comedy very well and their chemistry on-screen feels very real.  The gem of this picture is Jeff Bridges (like that's a surprise).  His hippie, love-in Colonel is so fun and, at times, heartbreaking to watch that I really wanted more.  A word of warning to casting directors everywhere, though:  Jeff Bridges is capable of so much more than offshoots of "The Dude"; please don't trap him there.  End of sermon.  To Mr. Bridges: rock on, Flynn!!

Not your run-of-the-mill comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats is very clever.  The strong performances from the ensemble cast make this worth seeing, alone.  Add an oddball plot to this and you will enjoy that particular hour and a half.  Put it in your Netlflix queue, it's worth a watch.  7.75/10

Tomorrow's movie: the elaborately titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (and breathe).  I know I'm going to regret this.  See you then, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!