As Good As It Gets

Absolutely brilliant

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Jedi super soldiers that can kill goats with their minds. That's the real-life premise this film bases itself off of. "It's a far-fetched concept for a feature film, but it might just be crazy enough to work," the writer and producer probably said as they were making this film. Unfortunately for them, and us, it doesn't. What should be a funny premise turns out to be shallow and void of any humor. Just like the real-life program the film showcases, the idea was just too crazy and the execution was too stupid to justify its own existence. The film starts out introducing us to Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a journalist stuck in Ann Arbor doing pointless stories. One day he interviews a man who served in the New Earth Academy and share his story as a psychic soldier. A soldier that can spy using telepathy, see into the future, and kill anybody just with sight. Being fed up with dealing with lowlifes, Bob ventures to Iraq to cover the war (setting is 2002), but comes up short as he isn't allowed to go into the war zones. While waiting to get his big break, he meets a man named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who was the best New Earth Academy trainee in history. Because of the coincidence that he meets another academy member, Bob gets the story behind the academy's leader, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges). Django was a Vietnam veteran that didn't agree with violence, so he persuaded The Pentagon to fund a new project that would create "Jedi" soldiers that could nonviolently incapacitate an evil regime. From this point on we cut between Bob and Lyn's time in Iraq to Django and Lyn starting the New Earth Academy in the 70s.From the sound of that premise, I would expect this film to embrace its goofiness and unbelievability and use it to create lots of laughs. Well, I was wrong. What should be and was marketed as a comedic film turns out to be a straight lined story that doesn't really feel like anything. It's not funny, it's not dramatic, and it's surprisingly not interesting. It just feels like the hallowed remains of what could have been.Another mistake the film repeatedly makes is that it tries to be something it's not. It unnecessarily tries to tackle many different themes such as friendship, acceptance and living with the past. You would think that touching on those themes would lift this film above the usual lower comedies, but alas you would be wrong again. None of the themes mesh together and make the film feel very disjointed about what messages it is trying to send. What I wanted and expected from this film was crazy antics from great actors, but what I'm given is a failed story that spends way too much time being hokey and sentimental instead of actually being funny. The main actors in this film can be put in two categories: Saving graces or disappointing baggage. Ewan McGregor takes the top spot on the disappointing baggage team. I still haven't figured out if McGregor is a good actor, mostly because his quality vastly changes from film to film. I love the guy, but he's never really consistent. He was excellent in the Trainspotting and Star Wars films, but terrible in Our Kind of Traitor and Mortdecai. I know those bad films came after this one, so you could claim that this film was the beginning of a slump. George Clooney is the biggest saving grace. He has fun with his material and delivers a performance that is off-kilter comedic. Jeff Bridges is also a saving grace as he channels his "Dude" behavior from The Big Lebowski. He's obviously having fun with the role and just kind of goes through each scene carefree.Kevin Spacey balances out the teams and joins McGregor as disappointing baggage. Spacey plays Larry Hooper, an academy member who disagreed with Django's methods and who was jealous of Lyn's natural talent. Spacey tries to play as the abandoned son, but he just doesn't seem interested enough in his role. The Men Who Stare at Goats is a film that takes itself way too seriously and doesn't know what to do. It wants to be a thoughtful comedy with lasting merits. The only thing is, nobody else wanted that. People wanted a goofy comedy with a few good laughs. The film tries too hard where it shouldn't and doesn't try enough where it should, which is why it ends up being boring and forgettable.

Okay, but quite disappointing. Had huge potential, and started out well - large degree of intrigue, and incredibly funny at times. Lost its way in the middle section - drifting aimlessly. Final section was worse - random, and tried to throw in some meaningless hippy philosophy to boot. It was as if the director, Grant Heslov, was trying to emulate the Coen Brothers in making a funny, quirky, snappy-dialogued yet clever-plot movie. He even recruits two Coen Brothers regulars - George Clooney and Jeff Bridges - to try to give it a Coen Brothers feel. Unfortunately, that is where the similarity ends. This is certainly no Coen Brothers movie. They don't ever lose focus.Good cast - George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey - does their best, but their talents are wasted, through either being miscast, or due to the mediocre plot and direction. Clooney and McGregor are great in their roles, but Kevin Spacey is badly miscast. Strangely, Jeff Bridges seems miscast too. You would think the role suited him - the disheveled, loony hippy - very similar to The Dude in Big Lebowski. He seems strangely flat in the role, like he was trying too hard to be the loony hippy.Overall, the over-the-top humour and premise of the movie make it likable, though it could have been so much better.

The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009: Dir: Grant Heslov / Cast: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Stephen Lang: Here is a comedy that combines both sincerity and among the biggest laughs all year. Ewan McGregor plays Bob Wilton whose life is on a downward spiral until he encounters a believed super soldier named Lynn Cassidy, played by George Clooney. What is interesting here is how full of crap Cassidy is yet our willingness to go along because Cassidy believes it so well. These super soldiers have a psychic ability that allows them to move objects by force of the mind. Jeff Bridges plays Bill Django who nearly died in Vietnan until he found refuge in a strange vision. Kevin Spacey plays Larry Hooper who attempts to sabotage the operation because he desires to control it for himself. Directed by Grant Heslov who creates one of the funniest as well as best films of the year. McGregor allows us to believe the nonsense because he can stare through a wall for that awesome triumphant conclusion. Clooney sharpens his comic edge with a wink. Bridges steals moments in his hippy madness. Spacey even makes for a villain we cannot help but like even when he pulls a gun on himself. Stephen Lang opens up the film with a hilarious sequence where he believes that he can transport through walls. Intelligent comedy about secret government exploitations. Score: 10 / 10

After a friend kindly gave me the chance to read Jon Ronson's fascinating book The Psychopath Test,I decided to take a look at what else Ronson had written,and I was surprised to discover that one of his books had been adapted for the big screen,which led to me getting ready to out-stare a goat.The plot:Getting dumped by his wife for his one-armed editor, journalist Bob Wilton decides to escape by going to Iraq to report on the war for the newspaper.As starts making notes on his first report,Wilton runs into a retired army general called Lyn Cassady. Asking Cassady about his role in the army,Wilton is caught by surprise,when Cassady tells him that he was part of a secret psychic spies black ops group,which was set up by the US government after army officer Bill Django's years of research over how the troops can take the enemy on in a peaceful manner,in the post- Vietnam era.Since Django has not been seen in years,Wilton decides to go in search of him,whilst Cassady continues to give more info over the psychic spies secret missions.View on the film:Taking a pick & mix approach to Jon Ronson's excellent book,the screenplay by Peter Straughan takes the more lightly comedic elements from Ronson's book as tracking for an easy-going road movie.Whilst the running round in the desert road movie skits allow director Grant Heslov to do some charming slap-stick set pieces,the satirical aspect of the title feels extremely restrained,due to Straughan and Heslov pulling the movie back to safe ground when it threatens to take a more darkly satirical view at the psychic spies War on Terror