THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS: almost as much fun as it sounds

The plot of THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is as bizarre as its title.
Briefly put, it involves Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a smalltown newspaper journalist who travels to Iraq in search of adventure and an opportunity to prove his worth to his cheating wife. There he hooks up with Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) a mysterious special ops guy on a mission who regales Bob with tall tales about a secret US army battalion trained to fight using paranormal powers instead of guns.
The plot though is less important than the way in which it unfolds. It's Clooney's deadpan delivery of ridiculous explanations and McGregor's understandably bewildered reaction, together with the numerous slyly humorous flashbacks which illustrate Clooney's story which make THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS worth watching. Getting there is more fun than arriving because the climax is distinctly anti-climactic. 
All the air goes out of the story when the two finally reach the end of their quest. The quirky sense of humour is replaced with a deadening seriousness. It's as if director Grant Heslov and producer Clooney have decided it's not enough simply for their film to entertain; it must have a message as well. The abrupt shift in mood and pace is not just unsettling, it ruins the whole party, erasing the memories of the good time I was having just a few minutes earlier.
GOATS is a minor entry in the Clooney canon. It bears all the hallmarks of his slightly subversive sense of humour but it's not in the same league as "Burn After Reading" or "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" although it will definitely remind you of them. Cassady is yet another Clooney character who may or may not be all that he claims to be, but is most certainly not the hero of the story despite Clooney's star billing. That role goes to Jeff Bridges as a most unconventional US Army officer who recruits and trains the battalion of psychic warriors.
Amusing rather than laugh out loud funny with a decidedly off-beat sense of humour that some will find off-putting, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is an acquired taste which may find more success at the art house than the multiplex.