The Men Who Stare at Goats - C-

At the start of the Iraq War, a reporter (Ewan McGregor) goes looking for a story after his wife leaves him. He discovers Lyn (George Clooney), a CIA operative with legendary psychic powers that allowed him to find POWs and kill goats just by staring at them. In the early 80s, Lyn was under the tutelage of Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), a Vietnam vet turned hippie pacifist, who created a secret army of "Jedi Warriors" whose intent was to win wars without firing a shot. The group was forced to disband after the unfortunate death of a powerful general's son.

In 2003 Iraq, Lyn is on a secret mission, one that will lead him to redemption and acceptance. The film's flashback structure kills the minimal momentum it builds in both 1983 and 2003. There are even flashback within flashbacks and multi-character flashbacks. I guess this is appropriate since LSD becomes a major plot point toward the end of the film. There are some interesting scenes, but none of them attach coherently to any others. First-time director Grant Heslov is a longtime producing partner of Clooney and can't seem to manage either the film's tone or pace. The cast obviously had a great time making the film, but that can't fix the script's clunky structure.Like every Iraq War movie except The Hurt Locker and Taking Chance, it makes the mistake of making the American military the bad guys. Wait, we want the Americans to die and the Iraqi POWs to be free? Left-wing ideas of peace, love, and dope are great in college dorm rooms, but serve no practical application in the real world, and especially in war. The ending scene is the worst and nonsensical in recent memory. C-