The Men Who Stare At Goats

The story of physic spy wars as employed by the military and other more covert groups get a comic and psychedelic spin with The Men Who Stare At Goats. George Clooney and Jeff Bridges headline as the military types who use their minds more than their heads while Ewan McGregor figures as a journalist who ties the story together. Names have been changed but the story is based on the book of the same name by Jon Ronson concerning US military experiments and practical application of same. The Bridges character is based on Jim Channon who developed the First Earth Battalion booklet used in the movie. Other movies have also fictionalized black ops such as MK-ULTRA (Conspiracy Theory) or remote viewing (Suspect Zero) although those films didn't take the plainly wacky approach employed by Goats.
Kevin Spacey shows up as a foil to Bridges and employs his own bizarre sense of the paranormal that include tripping people out of their minds. Obviously Spacey's character is a fictionalized composite that suits writer/director Grant Heslov's view of story conflict. The ulterior motives behind the germ of the story were ecologically and philosophically in tune with nature while the nefarious plot diversions used here merely soften that message with typical spy meller hijinks. The Men Who Stare at Goats certainly offers up the laughs while food for thought will best be psychically projected.