I wanted to but couldn't!

From my favorite movies..

Excellent but underrated film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is one of those stories that you walk away from tempted to think it was about nothing in particular. I think it's rare a writer or director sets out to make a film about nothing though and it's just a question of whether or not you can decipher what it was supposed to be about.Our central character, basically a good kid who's mature beyond his years, is unfairly caught up in the acrimony between his divorced parents. His mother appears to be a deeply troubled, self-centred wannabe hippie, who would probably fail any kind of test designed to evaluate fitness to be a parent. We don't see so much of the father although it transpires he left her for another woman at some point, subsequently did very well in business, but became estranged from his son in the process. We later find this isn't the full story though and he's not quite the monster the mother would have him be, though he's far from perfect either.Suffice to say the boy is at the somewhat derelict, lonely centre of a damaged family, which probably explains why he gravitates towards Goat Man - Duchovny's easy-going stoner who lives with mother and son in exchange for odd jobs, while tending goats on the side.We join them as the boy's about to leave for college some distance away. He says his goodbyes and embarks on his new life at boarding school, getting into the swing of things, trying to make friends.What stands out here is the almost total absence of concern or contact from his mother, father, or Goat Man, though the latter at least tries to write to him but his cannabis-laden correspondence is intercepted by the postman.The boy's repeated attempts to contact his bizarre mother lead him to infer that she now has a new live-in lover, who the boy, like Goat Man and me, takes an instant dislike to.When eventually his father does get in touch, he's tempted to go and spend thanksgiving with him instead of his mother reflecting his hurt at her lack of concern and his reluctance to ingratiate himself with her new boyfriend. Suffice to say this weekend does not go well and the boy ends up on the wrong side of a somewhat misplaced judgemental rant from his father.And so the game of emotional ping pong continues...On returning to school, he unwittingly gets into a fight with his also-troubled room-mate. Yes this poor lad's a proper lightning conductor it seems! It's not all bad news though, the boy's troubles are nicely offset by a burgeoning romance with a girl who works in the canteen. Hurray - he finally gets a break in life ...Every silver lining has a cloud though and alas, this boy seems fated to be drawn in and brutalised by those dearest to him. Through the course of the movie we see his mother, father, Goat Man, the room-mate, and the burgeoning love interest all betray or wound him.At least before the end, we see some reconciliation with the room-mate, the father and Goat Man, so you're not left on a total downer. And the whole thing's not handled in an over-sentimental or melancholic way so it's really more of an "up" movie than it sounds.So for me the over-arching theme was disappointment in those closest to you. Whether that's what was in the minds of the writer/director is another thing entirely.David Duchovny was great as Goat Man. Tempting to think he's just aping Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski but on closer inspection this character's quite a bit different - I think he does it justice and makes it a believable character.I liked Graham Phillips as the boy - he underplayed a character that could've easily been OTT emotional and clichéd, but was instead surprisingly likable. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more of him, but hopefully not in teen vampire nonsense.So nothing spectacular or clever here, just an interesting, and in places touching, character study of a boy experiencing an unusual amount of betrayal, hurt and disappointment in his life. It's easy on the eye, well-acted, with some nice locations. All in all definitely worth a watch despite the low reviews.

OK. so it wasn't the greatest coming of age film i've ever seen. but it had its moments. don't want to spoil those for anyone. especially since i didn't check the spoiler box. i think, maybe, those who didn't like it needed something more. if nothing else, more explained. probably young and looking for answers. thing about life is, answers are where you find them... and sometimes things 'just are'. i'm ALSO thinking that they wanted to see the movie go in certain directions. and it doesn't. it, like any other (good) story, has its own agenda. and by this i mean other than making a gajillion bucks. sorry for those of you that wanted it, but no car chases, nudity(which is a shame considering that vera farmiga is in it. not this movie people. sorry), wildass tripping scenes, gunfights or car chases. one goat chase, though. oops. was that a spoiler? what i meant by the summary was that the rating, as of my writing this, is five point FOUR! five point FOUR! i was amazed at how low it was. but then i saw a bunch of favorable reviews. good thing, too, cause you don't want me to turn this around and go home. OK. time for the next film. look folks(i probably mean 'kids'), maybe you should just stick to the blockbusters and leave the indies for those of us who can handle them, rather than thinking your opinions are worth diddly. i almost didn't see this film because of the ridiculously low rating. but then a friend told me she really liked it. saved again. hallelujah and good night.

I was really expecting the film not to be very good from the reviews i read at Rotten Tomatoes. I was pleasantly surprised. We rented the film from Comcast On Demand since it did not open in our area. I was able to view it twice before it was taken down. I enjoyed it more the second time round. I found the whole cast to be very good. Especially Ty Burrell from the Good Wife. David Duchovny was excellent as The Goat Man and really showed that he can play other characters very well. I did find Vera Farmiga a little over the top, but then I believe she was supposed to be. Also enjoyed Justin Kirk as the sleazy boyfriend of the Farmiga character. Ty Burell while i expected to hate him since she always referred to him by a very vulgar term turned out to be a nice person. It was also nice to see that in this film it was the guys that showed some personal parts instead of the ladies:) Bottom line, while not Oscar material its a very enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half. I think when it comes out on DVD I will buy it.

Goats is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It's smart, funny, engaging and brilliantly acted. Never once did I find my mind wondering or thinking this would be better if.... It had me captured from the beginning straight through to the end. The character of Ellis was sweet yet not too sweet and I found myself rooting for him the whole time. It was refreshing to see characters that were deeply flawed, but truly loved each other with all they had. The transformations were subtle, but real. The audience seemed to really connect with the characters and story. It was a coming of age story, but so much deeper and richer than the typical, run-of-the-mill coming of age flick. I feel luck to have seen this film and hope that others get the chance as well.