Op-Ed: Review: 'Men Who Stare at Goats' fails to deliver Special

Answer: Goats, Jedi, and Clooney. Question: What do you get when you have a good a true story, a good script, and an A-list actor? Unfortunately, the director and editor missed the mark in the film “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” This is a shame with great actors like George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges. The word is still out on Ewan McGregor. Director, Grant Heslov’s comedic endeavor does not deliver the laughs. The basic problem was a complete lack of tension.; comedy is much harder to accomplish than drama on film. Heslov’s “Good Night and Good Luck” was a wonderful black-n-white film with great detail. For some reason, Heslov doesn’t understand that you need the same degree of tension that you get in a drama for comedy to be effective. The whole film was like a beat off of the mark. The script was there, and well written by Peter Staughan, but Heslove was not able to bring what was on paper on to the screen. Tatiana S. Riegel, the editor, also has to take part of the blame for her work. She too does not seem to understand how to create comedic tension. It was really too bad; the lines were there for some great comedic moments, but they were just not supported director and editor choices. The soundtrack was another problem and again did not support what the script had made available. You knew the film was in trouble when it had to be narrated by Ewan McGregor, which was an attempt to make it watchable. McGregor still struggles with American English and just was not believable. Part of the problem with this potentially great film was McGregor’s performance failed to deliver the character tension from which Clooney to play off. He was, in comedic terms, not a very good straight man with whom Clooney could be teamed. You could see the character work from Spacey and Bridges, but without McGregor balancing it, their performances were not as edgy as they should have been. The funniest part of the movie, is trailer which you see online, that the studio put together to entice audiences in to take a nap during this film. I really wanted to like this film, as I love the premise, I liked the script, and the cinematography was up to par. I just don’t think that the director or the editor understand how comedy works. About the overall premise, “remote viewing” or “new age physic soldier” or “Jedi warrior (the films special take)” is real and a fascinating topic, you can check more about it on Internet. I have been a follower of the physic science since the early 80’s when some of the first modern testing was done with remote viewing. Comedy needs tension, when the tension snaps you get a laugh. There was never a moment of tension at anytime during the film. Therefore no comedy. Save your dollars, don’t get this one on DVD, wait until it hits the comedy channel in about 3 or 4 weeks when it dies a quick death in theaters. This whole thing reminded me of film called “Ishtar” and that one flopped big too. Maybe the studios can reel this one back in, re-cast McGregor, get another director and editor, find some better music and give it another shot. By the way, the goat’s performance was dead on.