Review: “The Men Who Stare at Goats”

Good news re The Men Who Stare at Goats per Daily Variety reviewer Derek Elley reporting from the Venice Film Fesitval:

A serendipitous marriage of talent in which all hearts seem to beat as one, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” takes Jon Ronson’s book about “the apparent madness at the heart of U.S. military intelligence” and fashions a superbly written loony-tunes satire, played by a tony cast at the top of its game. Recalling many similar pics, from “Dr. Strangelove” to “Three Kings,” and the screwy so-insane-it-could-be-true illogic of “Catch-22,” this is upscale liberal movie-making with a populist touch, in Coen brothers style. Enthusiastic welcome at Venice, likely to be echoed at Toronto, should translate into friendly biz Stateside in November.

I’ve long felt that satire is the most difficult genre to pull off, but it’s also a personal favorite: Dr. Strangelove and Being There are two of my top 10 movies. 

Meanwhile THR chimes in with its review courtesy of Deborah Young:

VENICE — “Good Night, and Good Luck” director George Clooney and screenwriter Grant Heslov team up again in Heslov’s feature directing bow, a wild spoof on the U.S. Army research’s into psychic phenomena and attempt to use same in its wars from Vietnam to Iraq.

An anti-Army comedy toplining Clooney, Ewan MacGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey should have been funnier than this, but even if “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is not worth comparing to “Dr. Strangelove,” it should satisfy audiences with its great cast and patent absurdities, coated in quaint nostalgia for the happy hippie days of yore.

Being an optimist, I’ll push my psychic support behind the Variety review.