If you're looking for a good Cohen Brothers movie you're not going to find it here. Not a bad movie, but not a great one either. None of the great acting like in Fargo, The Big Lewbowski, or even Burn After Reading. More like a poor version of O'Brother Where Art Thou. I was not expecting much but even then I was slightly disappointed. The director, Grant Heslov tried to make a Cohen brothers movie but failed in the endeavor, despite a slew of great actors.
To be sure it's worth a $3 rental, and I'm sure over the years it may become a cult classic like Lewbowski, because a bevy of weird performances from Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, and Ewan McGregor.
McGregor is a journalist in Iraq who stumbles upon Clooney in the desert who explains he is a former member of the New Earth Army. The whole plot surrounds this secret military experiment, the New Earth Army, conducted during the 60's and 70's by Bridges to try and combat the enemy using a soldier's paranormal powers. Clooney is great as Lyn Cassady, the telekinetic prodigy of the army's experiment and Bridges pet student, while Spacey plays the villain and is great in this role. As usual it contains the standard weirdness, and you wonder at times where the movie is going. There are flashbacks to the present and past until it just kind of ends with a bizaree reunion of all the principals in the military experiment reuniting in a camp in Iraq.
Needless to say it's a decent film, but there were times I wished I were like the goats used in the military experiments. Dead. Rent it don't buy it. And don't expect too much from it, you'll be disappointed. Lower your expectations and you might be pleasantly surprised.
-M
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