Goats (2012)

hyped garbage

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Graham Phillips, really a teenager, is Ellis living near Tucson. He is basically a good, smart kid with a really strange mother. Vera Farmiga is his mother Wendy . She seems to have a steady stream of new boyfriends, and as events unfold doesn't not appear to be very nurturing for Ellis.Unknown to Wendy he applies to the upper-crust private prep school his dad went to. As a 15-yr-old he is a freshman, and in spite of mom's fears he goes off to the D.C. area, where his dad also lives.Ty Burrell is the dad, Frank . As happens often in real life, Wendy had pretty much demonized Frank, convincing Ellis that his dad was a bad, uncaring guy. But as he gets to know him, Ellis finds Frank to be a warm person who cares about his son, but had stayed away from Tucson because of the psycho Wendy.Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) is Minnie , who works at the all-boys prep school, but sneaks into the library often, working her way through the "100 favorite books" list. She is friendly with Ellis, teases him a little. The other boys says she is a prostitute, but only for juniors and seniors. Ellis discounts that, saying it is not true. It seems he has an ongoing interest in perhaps having something happen with this older girl.David Duchovny is Goat Man . The movie never really clarifies why he likes to train goats, or take them for walks in the desert, and in fact at one point declares that he doesn't like goats. But he is allowed to live in the pool house, for doing odd jobs around the property and keeping the pool clean. He grows his own pot and shares it often with others. He is an interesting, quirky character who turns out to be one of the more normal.The story in essence is a "coming-of-age" for young Ellis. He recognizes his mother for who she really is, he gets to know his father and dad's new wife (Kerri Russell). He learns that maybe Minnie really is a prostitute or a "loose" woman after he sees her with other boys off campus asking them "did you get all sweaty?" She eventually invites Ellis to meet her off-campus "to spend some of that allowance money" he has. He turns her down, in a show of maturity, realizing she is not the kind of girl he wants to be around. Not you usual movie, overall I enjoyed it more than its IMDb rating would suggest.

What starts out as a silly comedy quickly descends into a fairly average coming-of-age dramedy. But after reading an interview with the director, "Goats" is very clearly a coming-of-age dramedy; it's just the marketers that would like to pretend that it's a quirky comedy – usually an easier sell for indies. The change in genre is both good and bad news for the audience.We are first introduced to Ellis (Graham Phillips) as he's living with his mother, Wendy (Vera Farmiga), a new age hippie, and Goat Man (David Duchovny) a step-father-like figure, on a sprawling desert farm. Goat Man smokes weed and makes goat treks – whatever those are. His mother talks in nonsense philosophical quips as she comes up with more and more ways to become one with nature.It's a relief when Ellis goes off to prep school because those early comedy stylings could only go so far. In prep school, Ellis clearly doesn't really know normal. He doesn't get along with his roommate and he keeps expecting Goat Man to send him marijuana in the mail. He's at the school because of his father's money and name, but thinks of his father as some worthless jerk who left him and his mother.While the film isn't really going anywhere, the characterizations are good. I wasn't really sure what the film was trying to say, but one thing that I picked up on is that no matter how different people may be, they are all selfish. Hippies are just as selfish as those that are rich and privileged. His mother expects Ellis to come home for Thanksgiving even though she won't answer the phone or return his calls. So Ellis decides to spend the holiday with his father who is just as insufferable as he thought.His father, Frank, is played by Ty Burrell in a very good, dramatic role. When we meet Frank, we also meet his new, younger wife, Judy (Keri Russell). She's the nicest character in the movie, and is the spark for the expected eventual outcome.The acting is good, in particular Graham Phillips as our young hero. Ellis is pretty bland, but Phillips infuses as much warmth and charisma into him as possible. We don't mind following Ellis to prep school, mostly because it would be much better than spending time with his whining, annoying, screaming mother (who is communing with nature). But like the protagonist, the movie gets a little lost when he arrives at school. The only comedy is when he calls home and Wendy's new boyfriend answers the phone, or when Wendy's new boyfriend wears a small Speedo, or when Wendy's new boyfriend throws a hissy fit with Goat Man. Did I mention that Wendy's new boyfriend is played by Justin Kirk? He's hilarious. But he's also not really important to the narrative of the film.As I mentioned, "Goats" gets a little lost when Ellis arrives at prep school. At this point it's a coming-of-age drama, and it takes him the entire school year to arrive at the tiny bit of acceptance he was searching for.

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.

Loved the film-subtle and touching with some laugh out loud moments. Fortunate to see it at the Tucson Sundance showing. Filmed on location here so there was great audience engagement at the sold out showing. So interesting to hear the Q and A with the writer and director and producers after the film. The story was very personal to the director and mirrored his upbringing in many ways. He and the writer were simpatico about the script and vision of the film. Producers also seems very attached and committed to the story. Well-cast and well written. Graham Phillips makes an impressive transition to film and captures Ellis with perfect reserve. David Ducovny was born to play Goat Man. Even the goats were superbly cast. Beautifully filmed and directed. Hope it makes it to the big screen. It's a treasure of an Indie that deserves wide distribution.