THE scary part about this movie is that a lot of it is truer than you'd think.

Based loosely on Jon Ronson's book of the same name and an accompanying documentary series, The Men Who Stare At Goats is a look into the US government's secret program to develop super-soldiers trained in the use of psychic powers.

Small-town American reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) stumbles into this world when he interviews Gus Lacey (Stephen Root), a crazy-eyed local who tells him about his time with the First Earth Battalion - a specialised unit of "Jedi Warriors" that attempted to use their mind powers to walk through walls, turn invisible and kill goats.

Spurred on by Gus' story (and an unfortunately timed divorce), Bob heads where the action is - Iraq - and meets another "Jedi" Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who proceeds to take Bob on his secret mission into the heart of enemy territory.

The Men Who Stare At Goats shifts easily between its informative flashbacks and the clear and present danger facing Lyn and Bob, although the pair's adventure through Iraq is the lesser of the two stories and ultimately a bit thin.

However the humour and pacing of the film never waivers, and what really makes it tick is its goofiness. Aided by the presence of Clooney, this has a very Coen-Brothers vibe to it, thanks also to a straight-faced delivery of the absurd subject matter.

Clooney is the highlight as Lyn, supposedly the greatest "Jedi" the First Earth Battalion produced, and he's a riot as he demonstrates the techniques of "sparkly eyes" or diffuses clouds with his mind while driving, just to keep his edge. You'd have to go a long way to find Clooney give such a wonderfully wacky performance.

His supports are good, particularly Bridges as the Battalion's hippie leader Bill Django, and overall this is good fun.

While the satirical elements fall short - notably a gun fight between American security companies in Baghdad - but this is an hilarious farce that seems too stupid to be true, which just makes it all the funnier.