The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

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.

Director:

Grant Heslov

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay), Jon Ronson (book)

Stars:

Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Lawson LaTourrette	...	Dave (as Todd Latourrette)
Brad Grunberg	...	Ron

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.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | general | first person narration | hampster | reference to loch ness monster | 

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Taglines:

No goats. No glory.

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Les hommes qui regardent les chèvres

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,211,791 (UK) (6 November 2009)

Gross:

$32,416,109 (USA) (29 January 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Films, Smokehouse Pictures, Westgate Film Services

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George Clooney's character Lyn Cassady appears to be based partly on US Military top Remote Viewer Joe McMoneagle, and RV Project Database Manager Lyn Buchanan. Reference to McMoneagle is supported in both his being a favored resource, and in a scene where information on a missing general is provided by Cassady in a Remote Viewing session - likely drawn from inspiration from McMoneagle's partly successful attempt to RV kidnapped US Brigadier General Dozier's location in Padua Italy (1981). Also as a reference to Lyn Buchanan, the scene where computer systems are fried and destroyed, seemingly by Lyn, resulting in his initial recruitment by General Hopgood, is also very close to fact.

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Goofs

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.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

More of this is true than you would believe.

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Connections

Featured in The Jay Leno Show: Episode #1.32 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Wishin' and Hopin'
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Performed by Dusty Springfield
Courtesy of Mercury Records Limited
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Not As Good As I Was Expecting

I did like "The Men Who Stare at Goats", however, it was not as good as I set my hopes for. This is one of those movies where the trailers and adds on television showed the funniest parts of the movie.

The story was neither here or there and I spent a majority of the time hoping they would really go somewhere, yet it never did.

I felt that the idea of the movie was very splendid, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

Clooney and Spacey were great as always. Bridges (who I am not quite as familiar with) was enjoyable as well. McGregor was not bad, yet nothing special.

Overall, not bad acting, not bad ideas, but the story could have been better. Check it out if you have a chance but don't worry if it passes you by.