Product Details

• Actors: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Robert Patrick
• Directors: Grant Heslov
• Format: Color, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: March 23, 2010
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002VECMAO
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #6,916 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Men Who Stare At Goats [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hard to define but easy to enjoy, The Men Who Stare at Goats is the preposterous yet more-true-than-not story of a small-town journalist named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) who, trying to prove himself in Iraq, stumbles upon a man named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to be a psychic spy for the U.S. Army. With dazzling cinematic efficiency, the movie bounces back and forth between the origins of the New Earth Army--a squad of American Jedi warriors--and Bob and Lyn wandering through war-torn Iraq, pursuing a mission that turns out to have been assigned by a vision. The movie shifts from giddy comedy to melancholy as a portrait of human pettiness, manifested in military paranoia and corporate greed, unfolds. The ending loses a bit of steam, but most of The Men Who Stare at Goats is a delight--unusual yet satisfying, funny and thoughtful in turns. Jeff Bridges plays--of course--the addled yet charismatic founder of the New Earth Army, while Kevin Spacey plays--of course--the weaselly, manipulative psychic spy who turns what was meant to transform the world for the better into a mechanism for propaganda and worse. Adapted from the bestselling nonfiction book of the same title by British journalist Jon Ronson, The Men Who Stare at Goats niftily balances surface lunacy with serious undercurrents, buoyed by excellent performances from all involved. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from The Men Who Stare At Goats (Click for larger image)

Product Description

In this comedic look at real life events that are almost too bizarre to believe, reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) discovers an experimental top-secret wing of the U.S. military called The New Earth Army, trained to change the ways wars are fought through New Age psychic power.   In search of his next big story, Wilton tracks down Lyn Cassady (Academy Award® winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be a member of this legion of “Warrior Monks” with unparalleled psychic powers who can read the enemy’s thoughts, pass through walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Smart and enjoyable, but not as lasting as it should be., March 22, 2010

By	DanD - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: The Men Who Stare At Goats (DVD)

George Clooney, Ewen McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick, Stephen Root, Stephen Lang...THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS has an one of the best cast lineups of any 2009 film (a year in which a lot of good actors made a lot of good movies). The film is based around a supposedly true plot: "psychic warriors" trained to fight terrorists, led by a hippie soldier, attacked by an arrogant Army officer, and infiltrated by a bored investigative reporter and a former psychic soldier. It makes for a great story, and overall, GOATS succeeds brilliantly; it is a delightful, at times dark film (the last 20 minutes or so get so dark, you'll wish the whole film had been this gutsy) that proposes a lot of questions, and doesn't bother answering them (like any good satire should).

However, something's lacking. Peter Straughan's script isn't up to par; and Grant Heslov's directing seems at times undecided. The acting is fine--Clooney is understated; Bridges is himself; Spacey is delightfully off-kilter; and watching McGregor deadpan the question "What's a Jedi?" is just good geeky fun--but the film itself doesn't live up to the cast's combined talents. The end result is a film that's certainly an enjoyable watch, even laugh-out-loud funny in spots (though it's overall a subtle comedy; this isn't slapstick, it's satire), but doesn't have the lasting effect something with this weight should. The ending is ultimately a let-down; a lot of build up for very little. That's not to say the movie isn't worth your time; if you enjoy intellectual comedies, you'll definitely want to check it out. However, unlike others of the genre--DR. STRANGELOVE comes to mind, though it's probably unfair to compare any war satire to Kubrick's masterpiece--THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS doesn't stay with you once you're done watching. And that is a damn shame, because a film with this great a cast, and this interesting a premise, deserves--almost necessitates--a lasting presence. As is, we have an enjoyable intelligent comedy that is slightly less than the sum of its parts.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five if you are former CIA or SOF, rest of world will not get it, May 7, 2010

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Men Who Stare At Goats (DVD)

An extraordinarily talented and experienced international law enforcement officer watched this on loan from me before I saw it, and hated it. Now that I have watched it myself, I understand--if you have not been deeply engaged with CIA and all of its idiocyncrasies including remote viewing, acoustic-kitty, the pigeons that came before Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and then over to SOF (Special Operations Forces) where "unconventional" had to go covert to survive the straight-leg generals with no clue, you will simply not appreciate this movie.

DanD nails it--this is satire and also a brilliant documentary of what can only be decribed as a well-intentioned long-running Goat F..k. The movie is a collage of several different real initiatives including the First Earth Battalion (I knew a couple of the principals, decades ahead of their time); the Peace Warrior initiative, and of course Remote Viewing, the CIA's notorious MKULTRA and LSD for unwitting victims, and so on.

At one point in the movie the two principal actors are discussing the remorse--the angst--over having used his power to actually kill a goat with his mind, and the other guy pops in with "Silence of the Goats." That just about sums it up--this is, for someone steeped in the well-intentioned lunacy of the past--a perfect five, and I have to believe that the world-class actors that decided to do this did it knowing that it would be misunderstood by many, but a real hoot among the veterans of the seventies and eighties.

The only thing not in here, certainly worthy of a sequel to this movie, is extra-terrestial encounters, leveraging extra-terrestial technologies, warnings from extraterrestials [humans now being in a state of quarentine for being stupid squared], and the exotic, wasteful, and generally hilarious methods used to keep Area 51 and related projects "secret."

See also:
Peaceful Warrior (Widescreen)
First Earth Battalion Operations Manual: Reprint of Original Manual from the 70's
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence
Psychic Warrior
Psychic Warrior: The True Story of America's Foremost Psychic Spy and the Cover-Up of the CIA's Top-Secret Stargate Program
Memoirs of a Psychic Spy: The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001
Hidden Secrets: The Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support ItHidden Truth: Forbidden Knowledge
Disclosure : Military and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History
Hidden Truth: Forbidden Knowledge

57 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The American Jedi Who Stare at Goats, November 6, 2009

By	Shopper (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

A man's wife leaves him. The man happens to be Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a small town newspaper journalist. To impress his wife and make her see him in a different light, Bob enlists to Iraq as a war correspondent. Sipping a drink in a plush Kuwaiti hotel, resignedly waiting for the green light to cross to Iraq, he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a garbage can company representative in search of a contract (or so he says). Bob is immediately intrigued. Not so long ago, he heard of Lyn in the course of an interview with a retired army soldier. Lyn's supposed psychic powers prove to be too much for Bob the Journalist to resist and he joins Lyn on his sojourn into Iraq. In the process, he discovers the (brief) story of the American Jedi, the soldiers of the U.S. Army's New Earth Battalion; the psychic warriors...

As I am one of the few adult women in the US who consider Clooney's sex appeal only a click above Mr. Rogers', there was a single compelling reason for me to see this film: its title. Unfortunately, the film does not live up to it. Yes, there are goats, men, and plenty of staring, but... the zany comedy/satire one is expecting never actually materializes. For a comedy, there are not enough laughs. For a satire, the pun is too diluted and lacking of a consistent object. The story frequently changes direction, until you feel it is the director's wish to keep the main plot hidden from you. When the film's conclusion finally arrives with a whimper, it forces you to ask: was the hour and a half leading up to this ending worth my time? The answer, in my case, was NO.

Still, the acting is excellent. Bridges as the stoner and Spacey as the villain are satisfying (if not predictable). There are a few good lines that may elicit a chuckle here and there. As long as you do not expect a fast action comedy, or a wise, stay-with-you-long-after-the-viewing satire, you may be able to enjoy some parts of the film...