Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Director: Grant Heslov (first major feature)
Running Time: 1 hr 33 min
Release Date: Nov. 6, 2009
Budget: $25 million
Average Critics’ Score: 55%
“A superbly written loony-tunes satire…” Derek Elley, Variety
“…lacks pizzazz.” J. Hoberman, Village Voice
“More of this is true than you would believe” is how this wanna-be quirky satire about a group of New Age paranormal soldiers begins. Led by a hippie Bridges, Clooney was trained during the Vietnam War to do outlandish things like killing goats with his mind (hence the title) and walking through solid walls. Goats, however, turns into a muddled mess as it hastily cuts back and forth between then and the present day where Clooney is now paired with McGregor’s aimless reporter. McGregor does his best to act intrigued, as I hoped to be with this initially interesting premise; but, Goats and its characters are neither absurd nor believable enough to care much.
