His Two Cents: “More of this is true than you would believe” is the amusing title that opens this satirical extension of Jon Ronson’s book (it’s “inspired” by the non-fiction volume), and while the structure of the thing is a little screwy and too stuffed with flashbacks there is considerable comic kick from seeing such game major players getting their teeth into sometimes preposterous parts. A lowly Ann Arbor journo named Wilton (Ewan McGregor) interviews a local nut-job (Stephen Root as Gus Lacey) who improbably talks of having been a ‘psy’ soldier (and stopping a hamster’s heart) but then, after splitting up with his wife and foolishly journeying to Kuwait in the jittery, post-9/11 days of 2002, Wilton by chance meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney, also a co-producer), the mysterious figure apparently behind such crazy stories. And once Lyn knows that Wilton isn’t the enemy, the two venture into the desert for reasons not entirely clear as a complex series of flashbacks (too many, really) commence detailing the Vietnam-era activities of Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), the slightly scrambled creator of the acid-indebted New Earth Army, Lyn’s former adventures therein (to the tune of Billy Idol and other ’80s stars), and how a formidable newcomer with supposedly astonishing and mind-bending abilities, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey, actually hardly in it), embarrassed them all on his way to becoming a major figure in the still-continuing efforts of the US military to harness the powers of the paranormal.

While it’s all a bit overextended and unfocussed in the hands of co-producer/director/Clooney pal Grant Heslov, there’s no doubt that there are some seriously funny (and odd) scenes here, and Clooney, Bridges and Spacey are all in top form while a more restrained McGregor is the voice of reason for the audience (his main function is to, however appealingly, stand about going, “What the…?!”). And yes, that title is indeed true: goats are stared at long and loonily.

Mad Dog

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