The Men Who Stare at Goats

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The Men Who Stare at Goats

R

2009

1h 33m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

51%

Tomatometer

213 Reviews

39%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Struggling reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) gets the scoop of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who claims to be from a unit of psychic soldiers who have been reactivated for duty. Intrigued by Cassady's assertions that they can walk through walls and kill goats by fixed gazes, Wilton follows him on a dangerous, top-secret mission across Iraq to find the brigade's founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

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Critics Consensus

Though The Men Who Stare at Goats is a mostly entertaining, farcical glimpse of men at war, some may find its satire and dark humor less than edgy.

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Ed Koch

The Atlantic

Save your money and, more important, your precious time.

Jan 17, 2018

Full Review

Rafer Guzman

Newsday

All in all, Goats would have been groaningly familiar, even back in the 1960s.

Jul 6, 2010

Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

A series of barely tethered surrealistic shenanigans perpetrated by coasting A-listers.

Rated: C-

Mar 30, 2010

Full Review

Michael Leader

Den of Geek

Misgivings about its conclusion aside, it feels like it knows its place in the world, tipping the hat to both the book and a previous Channel 4 documentary for their more factual takes on the subject, while revelling in the barminess of the whole thing.

Rated: 4/5

May 7, 2024

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

It contains enough absurdist wit rooted in the paranormal to make it an offbeat farce. What it doesn’t have is substance.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 30, 2023

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

There are lots of introductions and plenty of set up, but viewers are left in the dark through most of the conflict.

Rated: 6/10

Nov 29, 2020

Full Review

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Emma C

Ugh the biggest load of rubbish I think I have ever seen! What a complete waste of time - they should have donated the money to charity rather than waste it making this utter twaddle!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/28/25

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D P

No... uh uh... just no. I feel like Ewan McGregor was casted just to go along with all the Jedi jokes. That won't suffice unfortunately. I'm sure someone thought this was a worthy story to tell, but I thought it was hard to break into Hollywood. I thought only the best talent and the best ideas made it through. Yet a whole bunch of untalented people are getting all of these vanity projects funded??? What a joke.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/12/25

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Audience Member

Amazing homage to a wonderful book I really question the taste of anyone who doesn't enjoy this

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/10/25

Full Review

Brad S. R

One of the longest hour-and-a-half watches I can remember.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/20/25

Full Review

Nola H

Although this film is seriously weird, it is an extremely interesting genre, and knowing there are even moderate grains of truth to what went on more than makes up for composite, fictionalised characters. Geoff Bridges and George Clooney are seriously brilliant in their roles. Ewan McGregor does a great job too. I would say just suspend judgement, watch and think, and whether you “buy it” or not, you will be both entertained and left wondering what the heck really DOES go on behind the scenes at times.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/16/25

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Ela R

You either get it or you don't.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/05/25

Full Review

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Grant Heslov

Director

George Clooney

Lyn Cassady

Jeff Bridges

Bill Django

Ewan McGregor

Bob Wilton

Kevin Spacey

Larry Hooper

Robert Patrick

Todd Nixon

The Darwin Awards

25%

45%

The Darwin Awards

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60%

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29%

48%

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Tamara Drewe

64%

42%

Tamara Drewe

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The Men Who Stare at Goats: Trailer 1

2:16

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Synopsis

Struggling reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) gets the scoop of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who claims to be from a unit of psychic soldiers who have been reactivated for duty. Intrigued by Cassady's assertions that they can walk through walls and kill goats by fixed gazes, Wilton follows him on a dangerous, top-secret mission across Iraq to find the brigade's founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

Director: Grant Heslov
Producer: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Paul Lister
Screenwriter: Peter Straughan
Distributor: Overture Films
Production Co: Smoke House, Paul Lister
Rating: R (Language|Brief Nudity|Some Drug Content)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 6, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 6, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $32.4M
Runtime: 1h 33m

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