George Clooney is the man of the London Film Festival, clearly —
his “Fantastic Mr. Fox” was the opening gala last night, and we’re seeing “Up in the Air” at the weekend. In between, tonight in fact, is the big European premiere of “The Men Who Stare At Goats.” One of our writers caught it at Toronto, and while we have a few more reservations they did, it’s an enormously satisfying comedy, with a relaxed A-list cast clearly enjoying themselves, and mostly producing some of their best work in years.
Keen to prove his masculinity after being dumped by his wife, journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) heads off to Iraq at the outbreak of war there, and meets the mysterious Lyn Cassidy (Clooney), who claims to have been part of a secret government program to train psychic soldiers. Together, they head into the desert on a mission, the objective of which is as-yet-unknown to Renton. The script, by “How To Lose Friends and Alienate People” writer Peter Straughan, is a little heavy on voiceover (we know there’s plenty of exposition to impart, but there must be a more elegant way to do it?), but otherwise very strong, condensing Jon Ronson’s book into a narrative extremely well, and stacking the film with genuinely hilarious moments. The film’s only 90 minutes, and it flies by.
Most surprising, perhaps, is a very strong anchoring performance from Ewan McGregor: we can’t remember the last time we enjoyed him in a movie, but as Bob Wilton, he gives a charming, naive performance, with probably his best-ever American accent. Kevin Spacey, too, seems alive for the first time in years as the villain of the piece, giving extra dimensions to a rather thinly written role, but also turning on the silly when needed – his character is a former science fiction novelist, and there’s one scene this informs which pretty much had us spluttering Diet Coke out our noses. Clooney and Jeff Bridges are both typically great, both giving terribly sad undertones to their otherwise rib-tickling performances, although there are moments where Clooney comes a little close to his wild eyed Coen Bros idiot characters, but literally only for a couple of shots. The supporting cast are great too, particularly Stephen Lang, “Parks and Recreation”‘s Nick Offerman and a terrific one-scene cameo from Robert Patrick.
If there’s a principle flaw, it’s that the direction of Grant Heslov (Clooney’s frequent collaborator, and co-writer on “Good Night and Good Luck”) feels a little lacking in confidence — he judges the tone well, but occasionally the framing and cutting hampers the jokes slightly, and in the hands of a truly great filmmaker, it could have been a classic. But it’s a great debut from Heslov, and we’re sure he’ll come on with his next film. Like all comedy, it’s subjective, but it hit us in exactly the right spot, and if you’re a fan of the Coens, Mike Judge or Altman’s “M*A*S*H” (which the last act feels particularly inspired by), you should be there as soon as it opens on November 6th. [B+]
