"More of this is true than you would believe," the screen informs us at the beginning of "The Men Who Stare At Goats." It's based on a 2004 book by Welsh journalist Jon Ronson that explores the U.S. Army's attempts over the past few decades to incorporate psychological techniques, paranormal concepts, and New Age philosophies into both interrogation and combat. Ronson's work narrows its focus to the application of these relatively nebulous methods in the so-called War on Terror, and that's where the unfocused and plodding comedy tries to root itself. So while it's a fact that the truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction, one should make a story out of it only if one is able to find an actual story in it.

Ewan McGregor, fresh off boring audiences in "Amelia," stars in the ostensible Ronson role as Bob Wilton, a Michigan newspaper reporter whose desire to prove himself to his former wife takes him to Kuwait, where he hopes to become a war correspondent. It's perhaps coincidence that Wilton bumps into the semi-squirrelly Lyn Cassady (the ever-reliable George Clooney), who claims to be a retired soldier with whom Wilton tags along across the border into Iraq on a contracting mission. As they travel across the desert, Wilton learns more about Cassady's unorthodox military past and explains to us, via voiceover and flashback, the origins of the New Earth Army, an experimental battalion that hopes to take the hostility out of hostilities with a little spirituality.

It's these interludes that provide whatever fleeting joys are to be found in "The Men Who Stare At Goats," all thanks to the great Jeff Bridges at his Lebowski-est. Bridges plays Bill Django, Cassady's former commanding officer and the battalion's de facto guru, whose disillusion in Vietnam led to a basic training in the 80's consisting of yoga, dance, ginseng, and amphetamines. The bad guy, if there is one, is Larry Hooper, the mustachioed Darth Vader of these "Jedi warriors." Retrofitted with what is perhaps filmdom's worst wig ever, Hooper's jealousy of Cassady's obvious psychic abilities provides the film with its conflict, one that bleeds over into the present day as well.

Absurdist and topical satire featuring three of America's finest actors sounds like it should work, right? It doesn't, and though McGregor continues to be unwaveringly dull, blame for this misfire rests squarely behind the camera. Directed by Grant Heslov (he co-wrote "Good Night, and Good Luck" with Clooney) and scripted by Peter Straughan, who also botched last year's adaptation of "How To Lose Friends and Alienate People," "The Men Who Stare At Goats" suffers from a complete lack of pacing, careening between past and present, with seriousness and slapstick trying mightily to coexist in a plot too indistinct to generate any intellectual or emotional involvement. And assuming the source material is true, there are some bizarrely movieworthy ideas here, so it's unfortunate that Heslov, et al., choose to go the route of loopy condescension towards the metaphysical. Be open to new paths...but not that open.