The Men Who Stare at Goats

City Paper Grade: C+

by Sam Adams

[ CITY PAPER Grade: C+ ]

Directed by Good Night, and Good Luck. writer Grant Heslov, the adaptation of Jon Ronson's implausibly nonfictional book finds intrepid reporter Ewan McGregor on the trail of a covert U.S. program to train psychic spies, harnessing the paranormal for God and country. George Clooney plays a self-described "Jedi warrior" adrift from the shuttered project who schools McGregor's journo in the attempt to make the U.S. "the first superpower to develop superpowers."

Clooney's story takes the film back to the Reagan era, when ponytailed Vietnam vet Jeff Bridges was put in charge of creating a "New Earth Army" capable of spying on the country's enemies via "remote viewing," essentially a form of astral espionage. The juxtaposition of Bridges' tripped-out troops and Iran-Contra-era skullduggery makes for a few easy laughs, but the movie's satire never grows teeth; its depiction of the military as obsessive goofballs makes their excesses seem more trivial than dangerous. Given the outrageousness of Goats' premise, the only smart thing to do would be to play it cool, but instead Heslov goes for clumsy gags and overstated performances, especially Kevin Spacey's as the sneering snake in the psychic garden.

Clooney nearly saves the picture single-handedly by delving into the farcical repertoire he's fruitfully developed with the Coen brothers. As he and McGregor traverse the Iraqi desert, smashing up their car and getting kidnapped by terrorists, he's able to pass off each minor stroke of luck as verification of his paranormal prowess. If the movie shared his delusive mania, it would go a long way toward exploring the extent to which belief colors interpretation; Clooney's ability to tailor his observations to fit his preordained thesis is a faint mirror of the twisting of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. But Heslov hangs back and lobs softballs, coasting on superiority instead of getting under the skin.