Strong acting and story propel 'Goats'

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.

As good as both the leads are, though, they pale next to the always welcome Bridges, who excels at these kinds of goofy character roles.

(Kevin Spacey is better than he has been of late, as well, playing the main villain of the piece.)

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" is rated R and features wartime violence and other violent imagery (gunplay, shootings and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, explosive and vehicular mayhem, violence against animals, and some slapstick), strong sexual language (profanity, vulgar slang and other suggestive talk), drug content and references (hallucinogens, as well as hypodermic needle use), brief male and partial female nudity, a sequence depicting torture and psychological warfare, other off-color language, and derogatory language and slurs. Running time: 95 minutes.

e-mail: jeff@desnews.com