George Clooney image from Flickr.

After a bit of a dry spell at the box office, we are inundated this week with a flood of new releases. Critic favorite is clearly “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” as reviews from all over sing its praises. It’s no surprise that a film starring George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges is getting a lot of attention.

In fact, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” will probably cause trouble for its competition. Why the makers of horror movie “The Box” and thriller “The Fourth Kind” waited until after Halloween to release their films I can’t explain. I also think it’s a tad early for “A Christmas Carol,” but I’m sure in the long run that one will pull in big bucks.

Ensemble

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” will bring in instant cash, and I say that not only because of its uber-famous ensemble cast, but also because of its wide appeal. It’s listed most places as simply a comedy, but it has several elements that appeal to a wide audience.

Love, war, psychic powers and missing soldiers are among the subject matter that “The Men Who Stare at Goats” tackles. Rich Cline from Shadows on the Wall says: “Based on true events as recounted in the Jon Ronson book, this freewheeling war comedy is deeply entertaining due to the crazy-but-believable premise and wonderfully outrageous characters.”

Plot points

As one can probably guess, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is a satire, but much like its cast and its subject matter, it’s hardly one-dimensional. Amy Nicholson from Boxoffice Magazine says the film is “At once optimistic about what the military could do if it replaced its guns with flowers, and cynical about what the non-believers and opportunists can – and did – do to that dream.”

Of course, not everyone is a fan. Deborah Young from Hollywood Reporter said “With material like this, one would have liked a more incisive comedy to materialize around the decline and fall of the New Age movement.”

Box office

Despite getting some negative reviews from a few top critics, I am fairly certain “The Men Who Stare at Goats” will bring in more money this weekend than the other new releases. It might have a tough time beating out last weekend’s top box office earner, “Michael Jackson’s This is It,” especially because “This is It” is only in theaters for a limited time.