In the wake of flower power, a branch of the U.S. Army dedicates itself to ESP and new-age warfare. That’s the concept behind “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” and it’s a good one. The premise opens up a lot of avenues for humor. There’s the juxtaposition of hard-ass military men with bead-and-crystal burnouts. Would-be warriors are growing their hair long and giving themselves over to naked hot-tub encounters, dance sessions and hallucinogens. The jokes practically write themselves.

Unfortunately, that’s the problem. Despite a great cast, too many of the laughs are mined from the premise instead of the plot. The structure’s too loose to channel the humor, moving between the anything-goes 80s and Iraq at the onset of the most recent war there. The latter is a tough stage for hijinks. You can see the temptation to puncture the blind certainties that led to the U.S. occupation—it could be a neat parallel to the deranged intensity backing astral projection and Dim Mak. But the real pain of recent history there undercuts the slapstick kidnappings and contractor-on-contractor firefights.

The cast gives itself over the material. Jeff Bridges rechannels the Dude—always fun—and George Clooney somehow lends clipped plausibility to every line about “the Jedi warriors.” Ewan McGregor’s naïve young reporter has to spool out a big thread of narration, but he still remains plausible as our disbelieving everyman. Kevin Spacey has a fun eel’s role as a psychic looking to capitalize on the paranormal.

The movie has its laughs, but it’s also loose and rambling. It’s best anticipated as a series of set pieces mugging about the supernatural. In that vein, it’s enjoyable.