Fifteen-year-old Ellis is getting ready to leave his luxurious home in the foothills of Tucson for his freshman year at Gates Academy, an East Coast prep school. This means separating from his flaky, new age mother and the only real father he has ever known: Goat Man.
If Mr. Neil had the tonal mastery of Wes Anderson, "Goats" could have been so much more than an episodic sequence of whimsical little psychodramas.
Hollywood & Fine
August 10, 2012
The actors struggle to seem off-handed, much as the script does. Goats needs to be more goat-like in every way - unbridled, untamed, randy - and it never is.
... a stubborn, mangy, tangled-haired mutt of a movie -- one that could have used a little more guidance and construction and a little less free-range 'quirkiness.'
A movie that isn't terrible, but--apart from the goat fixation and Duchovny's zonked-out turn--doesn't offer much that hasn't been done elsewhere, and often better.
A strong cast and the sweet and simple nature of the script (based on the novel by Mark Poirier) makes Goats a charming little indie tale worth the viewing.
