Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Men Who Stare at Goats

More of this is true than you would believe.

I used to listen to Loveline years and years ago when Adam Corolla was one of the hosts, and when a wise-ass would get through the screeners with an obviously fake story, he would respond with the deflating phrase: "Is that true? Because it's not funny."

When the phrase "More of this is true than you would believe" flashed on the screen at the beginning of this movie, I knew I was in trouble.



Because throughout the movie, I found myself analyzing every scene wondering if it was real or if it was bullshit. Ultimately, after each scene I did a quick evaluation and decided that it was only entertaining if it was true. And since I didn't know, I had to assume that it was not true, and on that basis I was not entertained.

It actually picked up near the end. I also happen to think the end was the most fictitious, which leads me to believe that they should've thrown out basing on a true story, and gone completely over the top.

On the other hand, if they hadn't thrown the "partly" true bit at me, I probably wouldn't have analyzed the movie as much, and may have been a little more entertained. But ultimately, I think the best bet was to either be true or be crazy, because the in-between left a sour taste in my mouth.

According to wikipedia, however, the book was actually sixteen different, unconnected stories, and the movie attempted to merge those stories into common, fictitious characters. I think I actually would read the book if it landed in my lap; the subject matter sounds entertaining. If I surfed this movie on tv again, however, I would just keep going. 2 stars.

11 comments:

  1. I had high hopes for this movie cause of the cast but bleh.

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  2. Stares at goat?? Weird lol...
    alphabetalife.blogspot.com

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  3. I wanted to love this movie, but I just found it boring and slow at points. It had an absolutely amazing cast, great premise, but I just felt it lacked the oomph it needed. I was expecting something more along the lines of Burn After Reading humor compared to this. Either way, it was enjoyable, just nothing I'd find myself watching again.

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  4. I saw it, was ok

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  5. Never got around to seeing this :\

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  6. It had it's moments. I honestly do believe that the army researched remote kill operations, and allowed lsd research. The LSD research that was done in this country was done under very lax conditions (it was given to children by one "scientist")

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_LSD

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  7. great cast but didnt think it held up to the hype

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  8. haven't seen this, heard it was a disappointment. looked awesome though.
    +followed

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  9. I hate when movies frame shit with "True Story"... they hurt themselves before the first second of the movie even screens.

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  10. Hm, maybe I won't watch this after all then.

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