The Men Who Stare at Goats

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" falls into the politically impotent sub-genre of lightweight satire of which "Charlie Wilson's War" and "The Informant" are recent touchstones. Based on Jon Ronson's book about the American military's most arcane practices, the movie focuses on an elite unit of special-ops soldiers trained to use psychic powers. They're most infamous for having developed the ability to kill dogs by staring at them. George Clooney plays mind-over-matter US spy (a.k.a. "Jedi Warrior") Lyn "Skip" Cassady. Skip allows an adventurous young journalist named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) to tag along with him on a black-ops mission into Iraq. Foamy flashback comic set pieces run parallel to a meandering plot in which Skip and Bob get lost and kidnapped, then lost again. Particularly unfulfilling is a dead-end subplot about the military's New Earth Army led by new age hippie Bill Django (Jeff Bridges). A Viet Nam vet, Django dropped lots of LSD in order to develop the skills of a "warrior monk." Needless to say, these skills aren't what they're cracked up to be. Here is satire with all of the edges rounded off, a movie in love with the idea that the U.S. military spends buckets of money on things like generating 12-inch houseflies to ruin the morale of our "enemies." The filmmakers might imagine that they're dancing on the same floor as "Catch 22" or "Slaughterhouse Five" but they're much closer to a Steve Martin "Pink Panther"-remake.

Rated R. 95 mins. (D+) (One Star)