The Men Who Stare At Goats [Blu-Ray]

It's all about perspective. If the mere mention of pseudo sciences applied in a real world setting ― in a supposedly mostly true story, to boot ― makes you scoff, take a pass on Heslov and company's Jedi-barbing comedy. If, however, that notion appeals to your sense of playful lampooning, enjoy the ride. Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles into a psychic wild goose chase after interviewing Gus Lacey (Stephen Root), a man who claims to have killed his hamster just by looking at it. This was, apparently, part of Lacey's training as a member of the First Earth Battalion, a government initiative to harness the psychic potential of humans to create super-soldiers. Lacey names Lyn Cassady as his military psychic superior, who bested his hamster death stare with the look of goat death. Dismissing Lacey's story as lunacy, Bob heads to Kuwait to cover the Iraq war, where he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). Here, the film becomes a bizarre odd couple road trip, with Lyn enlightening Bob on the ways of the Jedi Warrior, as taught by the U.S. Military (McGregor's casting was entirely incidental, according to the commentary). Lyn's on some secret mission, while Bob's just trying to find his story. Along the way we're treated to flashbacks explaining the birth of the First Earth Battalion, with Jeff Bridges poking fun at his Dude persona as founder Bill Django. Django is essentially the Yoda to Kevin Spacey's Dork Vader, Larry Hooper, Lyn's rival. It sounds ridiculous, and it is, but there's a charming goofy seriousness running throughout the entire picture, and most of the cast completely run with it. Clooney and a pre-Avatar infamy Stephen Lang embrace the fresh faced dedication to the impossible displayed by the actual men of the First Earth Battalion, who are interviewed for one of the featurettes. Some of these guys are seriously convinced of the reality of remote viewing, while the movement's founder makes it pretty clear his philosophy is about testing the impossible to find new possibilities. A handful of minor deleted scenes and typical interviews with cast members are included, as is a tentative director's commentary. Of more interest is a commentary by journalist Jon Ronson, the man who wrote the book the film is inspired by, explaining just which parts of this unbelievable tale actually happened. Turns out most of the events did happen, just not in such a convenient narrative sequence. Perspective is magic and the medium guides it, but the choice to laugh or sigh is yours. I am a man who laughed at Goats.