“Is this really based on facts?” a fellow critic asked the studio rep at the screening I attended of this film. “Does it matter?” I asked in response, and I was right, it doesn’t. Whether it’s true or just a riff on the craziness of modern military and contemporary culture, it turns out that The Men Who Stare at Goats is a witty and engaging satire in the same vein as the classic war films M*A*S*H, Dr. Strangelove and Catch-22.
The film opens with the goofy Brigadier General Dean Hopgood (Stephen Lang) staring intently at the camera and then jumping up and announcing to the office that it’s time and he’s going to move into the next office. He runs full speed into a wall, fully convinced he’s going to travel through it based on his own psychic training and it doesn’t quite work out as he expects…

I enjoyed both the film, and your review, thanks Dave!
I was fearful that the writers of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” would think themselves funnier than I would. But thankfully, they were pretty funny.
I enjoyed most of the movie, but the last scenes crossed the line into total absurdity. Yes, there were a few great lines and laugh out loud funny parts in “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” but it’s not going to be a classic, and I doubt it will gain a cult following.