The Last Movie I Saw

One of my favorite lines from Shakespeare is: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." I guess you can say that summarizes the main theme of Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats, which opens on a title card promising "More of this is true than you would believe," and proceeds from there to relate the development of a secret military operation based on New Age mumbo-jumbo, martial arts mysticism, and hippie hokum all combined in the pursuit of victory without violence (though violence is a rather relative term in this context). The set-up is great, and the extended introduction of the key characters, especially those played by George Clooney and Jeff Bridges is hugely entertaining, but about halfway through, the movie starts to lose steam. The starting premise is so good, and the buildup leading to the present and a foray into wartime Iraq promises a payoff that it never really delivers. Maybe that's because they hewed too closely to real events, which more likely than not ended in an even bigger anticlimax than is on display here. The actors (add Kevin Spacey and Ewan MacGregor to those mentioned above) are all good and keep things watchable, but ultimately the movie was a bit of a disappointment, especially given the gonzo potential of its premise and the efforts of especially Bridges and Clooney to sell it.