I've been admiring lately George Clooney and his quicksilver talent for comedy manner. Having finally toured the Ocean's Eleven trilogy, and now reflecting upon O Brother and this latest heehaw outing, it strikes me that Clooney's rascal mug can sell cornball slick as salvation on Sunday, then lickety-split turn and deliver a devastating roll of the eyes to the next unlucky schmuck who tries to get cute. No matter the game — Gomer Pyle or Mr Cool — he always wins even when he's losing, like limp-wristed Dr Jones in a fistfight against a shirtless Nazi pile of meat, because he's already won you over. The old comparisons to Clark Gable and Cary Grant* are apt, ace in the hole being that Clooney actually possesses subtlety.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is best viewed in trailer form, I'm sad to report. Without the scent of a story, dog will not hunt. Ewan McGregor is miscast once again...the only time he's ever been convincing onscreen is when crawling shuddering out of a toilet. Okay, I also liked him as Grimes the self-loathing coffee grunt. Understand that McGregor cannot be sold on handsome Scottishness because fundamentally he is leering and gross.
* CG, CG, GC?
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Yeah, Clooney has proven repeatedly that he's got the skillz to be more than just a hearthrob, whereas McGregor has proven repeatedly that putting on an American accent takes him off his game.
ReplyDeleteThe Men Who Stare at Goats was about ideas of great potential interest that turned out to be but mild curiosities, set in a wait-for-it plot that hurtled us toward a humdrum anticlimax. And all of that would have been fine in a character-driven story, but the characters here weren't fleshed out and didn't change. All in all, a good-enough, mildly amusing movie, best watched on tv.