It takes some guts to appear in a movie called "The Men Who Stare At Goats". But if George Clooney and Jeff Bridges have the balls, I guess it's worthwhile. The trailer looks... sorta fun, though not great.
Talking about Jeff, I last saw him in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, where he did his usual good job. But as for the movie itself, I have mixed feelings. I like Simon Pegg, and the movie started well. And it had a good cast and nice pictures and was sometimes funny.
But more and more towards the end, it got clear that subtlety as regards Message is a concept not well known to those film makers. I mean, it's not as if the message, that glitz and glamour are not as valuable as true love, is a rare one. But you'd think it was, with the way it got hammered into your brain with all the subtlety of a Las Vegas dance show.
Also, even though it's based on an autobiographic story, it was clear both from statements and from the story that it was mostly made up, if for nothing else then because lots of events in it were simply highly unrealistic, and again ham-fistedly done.
You haven't seen much of Pegg's work, then, because he's not known for subtlety. He goes for cheap laughs. I found this one very funny, and it also had heart, though I disagree that they were heavy-handed about it. I doubt they thought the "message" was new, or that they expected us to think it was. It was supposed to take standard elements and do it funny. Ever seen "Hot Fuzz"? The point there was to take every action movie cliche and string them together in a funny way.
ReplyDeleteTo my taste, I find his best stuff is where he was involved with the script, like Spaced, Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, Run Fat Boy Run...
ReplyDeletePeter Straughan wrote the script on How To Lose Friends, according to IMDb.
I also thought Big Nothing was one of the weaker ones. Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Billy Asher wrote that one.
I just finished listening to the audio book of The Men Who Stare At Goats. It's a good book that presents an interesting look at some of the stranger doings of the US intelligence community. From what I've heard, the movie is a fictionalised account of one specific area covered by the book.
ReplyDelete"Men who stare at goats and the alien she-dogs who still love them", tonight on Jerry Springer.
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