‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’

Do I believe George Clooney can move things just by staring at them? Of course, don’t you? So we’ll start with casting, one of many good decisions director Grant Heslov made on this delightfully wacky, mostly true tale of a psychic unit of soldiers trying to mind read, move through walls and, in general, use brain rather than brawn to overwhelm the enemy. For the troops -- chief among them Clooney and Jeff Bridges -- it’s war under the radar and on LSD, or whatever drugs help achieve altered states. Ewan McGregor is the reporter who discovers the unit years after its inception, still operational if on the insane side. It’s a little like stumbling into Brando’s lair if “Apocalypse Now” had been a black comedy instead of just black. “Goats” is a lot of nonsensical fun and Clooney will indeed move you, just by staring.

-- Betsy Sharkey