Try Staring At Cows, That'll Freak You Out

I watched The Men Who Stare At Goats over the weekend. I don't know what parts of the movie are true (it says right at the start "more of this is true than you might think"), but other than the very last scene before the credits, I have no trouble believing any of it could have happened. Not so much the psychic powers, but the idea the military would devote funding to studying the possibility of using psychic powers, that someone would originally want to use it as a way around killing in wars, only to see it twisted? No trouble there. Nor did I have any trouble believing Bob, depressed over events in his personal life would try and make up for it by doing something big in his professional field.

I said I wasn't including the psychic powers as something I could believe readily, but man, I really want to believe in psychic powers. Which is a little strange, since the idea someone could be reading my mind, subtly manipulating my thoughts without my being aware is unpleasant. But there's the thought that if psychic powers did exist, then I could have them! I could learn where criminals disposed of things that will link them to crimes, or whether the person I think keeps stealing glances at me is interested, or if I'm just imagining it. Yeah, that would be pretty cool.

I have the "little man inside" Bob mentioned, too. With me he says "What are you, a dope? That stuff doesn't exist! You sucker."

As to the movie, well it was alright. I wasn't bored by it, but I didn't feel invested in the characters. Bob especially annoyed me, because he was desperate to get a ride with Lyn, then he spent most of his time complaining. Nobody made him tag along, it's on him. I did keep waiting for Larry (Kevin Spacey) to get his, but I wasn't dismayed he essentially escaped unscathed. I was glad Lyn found the chance to make amends he needed, but they introduced that aspect so late in the film, it didn't have time to gain a proper weight. It works better afterward, when I can view the earlier scenes with that added knowledge, but even then, Lyn feels more like a man trying to find something to care about, than a guy trying to make up for a past mistake. There were several scenes I enjoyed, but it didn't hold together.

I did think of one other thing in the movie I don't believe is true. I don't believe Angela Lansbury was really ignorant of the location of Noriega. She's a cagey broad.