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The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) Certificate 15

The Men Who Stare at Goats
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Rated 3.5 stars
Average rating
(66%)
 
Starring: Kevin Spacey | George Clooney | Jeff Bridges | Ewan McGregor | Rebecca Mader
Director: Grant Heslov
Studio: MOMENTUM PICTURES
Run time: 89 mins
Genres: Comedy
Languages: English
Released: April 19, 2010

Adapted from Jon Ronson's best selling book, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is the new film from the production team behind "Goodnight and Good Luck" and stars Hollywood heavyweights Ewan McGregor ("Trainspotting", "Star Wars"), George Clooney ("Michael Clayton", "Burn After Reading"), Kevin Spacey ("American Beauty", "Se7en") and Jeff Bridges ("The Big Lebowski", "The Fisher King").

A reporter (McGregor) 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 (Clooney) who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end the war as we know it.

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Box Office

Though Ronson's book and Heslov's film are hilarious, they both recognize the power of truth, and that's something to take with us out of the multiplex

Rating of 3 stars out of 5
Time Out

During the Bush era, it was pretty hard to make a military comedy. The armed forces tended to be presented as either...

Highest rated reviews

46 out of 46 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3.0 stars
Very funny trailer

Jasonorris from , 9th October, 2009

This is one of those trailers where you hope they did not put all the good bits in it and the rest of the film is not as good. Looks very funny, and good to see Kevin Spacey back in a big film. I shall be seeing this one and hoping the masses can get past the title.

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12 out of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
Very funny comedy

ninka from , 27th October, 2009

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's very funny and excellent preview screening of The Men who stare at goats. This reminded me very much of such films as Burn after Reading or Little Miss Sunshine - just a very silly comedy with brilliant characters and a great and unbelievably true storyline. The cast is excellent throughout - a real treat! A very well executed and loveable comedy.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
BELIEVE

Jaxworld from , 10th November, 2009

on the strength of the trailer I went and booked 2 seats for opening night... I've never done that before. I prayed I hadn't been misled by a trailer with all the good bits in it. I hadn't been. The film was brilliant, sparky, intelligent, fast paced, well observed and laugh out loud FUNNY! The cinema was full of people swaying around and bent double with laughter. When we came out people were quoting random lines at each other and bursting out laughing again. So many good bits it is neigh on impossible to pick a favourite. BELIEVE in the trailer. BELIEVE in the reviews. This film IS superb. (and thank you BBC for spending my licence fee so wisely by helping funding it!!)

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7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1.0 stars
Silly movie title=silly film!

A Customer from SW London, 7th November, 2009

This is one movie title that rates nil on being imaginative but the movie is equally pointless and silly. The ONLY redeeming factor is the humour in the film. In a nutshell: a journalist (Mcgregor)whose life is falling apart meets Lyn (Clooney) who is a top notch psychic spy and part the government's secret weapon to win the war. It has plenty of funny one liners but the plot was very thin and almost non existent! Loved Lloyd B though, always been a fan of his and loved him in the role of cooky Django(or whatever he was called). For once the title of a movie matches the quality of the film.

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Most recent reviews

Rated 2.0 stars
This film looked promising

mclean from , 31st January, 2010

The acting is electrifying in this however. Clooney and Mcgregor are the perfect duo. Jeff Bridges is a classic,just like in the big lebowski. Kevin Spacey brings most of the laughs. Its unfortuante the script is poor. Very poor. There is approximatley ten funny parts that are definatley not histerical. The rest of the film is a stretch which CLooney can't even make watchable. I dearly wish I cold love this film but it doesn't have any thing to impress me with.

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Rated 2.0 stars
All the good bits are in the trailer !

fairy89 from , 16th December, 2009

Yes it's one of those types of films, everything funny is all in the trailer. I went to see it in the cinema; and there were only 6 people in there... It's a very slow start with the comical bits few and far between. Overall a very disappointing film!

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Rated 4.0 stars
well worth it!

AlBertHold from , 2nd December, 2009

One of the funniest movies I/we have seen in many years. One of the reasons why it is so funny is that it is actually based on reality. Surely, the movie takes artistic liberties to achieve the laughs, but the fact still remains that there is some truth in the story. It is quite unimaginable today that there was once a time when the U.S. army experimented with new methods of 'warfare'. Well worth watching it! Besides the laughs, it is a funny kind of documenting a period of a not so distant past.

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Rated 0.0 stars
Huge disappointment

A Customer from High Peak, 29th November, 2009

Very funny trailer. Great cast. What a waste. Hardly a laugh in the cinema, some funny one liners but I had already seen those in the trailer. What is it supposed to be about? If it is based on true events it is utterly depressing, is the US army really so stupid and how is that funny.

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