Strong acting and story propel 'Goats'

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS — ★★★ — Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges; with English subtitles (Arabic dialects); rated R (violence, profanity, drugs, brief nudity, torture, vulgarity, slurs); in general release

It turns out the trailer for "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is actually funnier and more succinct than the movie.

But don't despair. That's a tribute to the people who assembled the trailer and teaser ads, which were a real hoot. And it's not really that big of an indictment of the film, which has its share of amusing moments.

But it also has a few flabby and ineffective moments, as well. And its silly, more off-beat sensibilities mean it won't appeal to all audiences.

In fact, the film may remind some of the low-key and decidedly quirky comedies by the Coen brothers. And not just because George Clooney is one of its featured performers.

He plays Lyn Cassady, a supposedly retired U.S. Army soldier who has turned up in the Middle East, around the time of the Iraq war.

Lyn's "cover" has been blown by Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a brokenhearted Great-Lakes-region journalist who has gone to Kuwait looking for a big story — as well as some sort of redemption.

Surprisingly, Lyn takes Bob under his wing and tells him about his career as a soldier. Lyn claims that he was trained to be a "psychic warrior" by a mysterious, legendary figure, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

Lyn also claims that he's on a top-secret mission, and takes Bob — whom he believes possesses psychic abilities, however minute — along for the ride.

This is a heavily fictionalized version of Jon Ronson's book, which purports to be closer to the truth than many people would suspect.

Screenwriter-turned-filmmaker Grant Heslov ("Good Night and Good Luck") and scripter Peter Straughan try a little too hard to force a wacky feel onto the story and onto the characters, though.

Toward the end, it starts taking itself a little too seriously. And there are a couple of go-nowhere subplots (Robert Patrick shows up briefly as a war profiteer).

Yet the performers make the whole thing work better than it might have otherwise.

Clooney is effective as the so-crazy-he-might-be-telling-the-truth soldier. And McGregor is good at depicting wide-eyed disbelief.