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Absolutely the worst movie.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A thought provoking watch on the behaviour of young adults in college fraternities from an interesting and challenging perspective.

This movie was an official selection at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. How it winds up with such a low rating on IMBD and a much higher rating on the competitor's site is and indication of the movies difficult subject. It can be hard to watch, it can be brutal, it can also be beautiful. Male bonding is frequently all of those things. It captivated me and so I recommend it.

Goat is a look at the dark side of fraternity initiations and is a long way away from the comedy antics of Animal House.Brad (Ben Schnetzer) follows his popular brother Brett (Nick Jonas) to college. Right at the off he gets beaten up and mugged by some strangers at a party he gave a lift to.However much worse is to come as the new students need to survive hell week and various rites of passage that is associated when it comes to joining college fraternities even if hazing has been outlawed.These pledges are meant to be darkly comic but nauseating and the new students endure it for the prestige of joining a house and getting laid. Of course we know that tragedy will strike and brother Brett is already dubious about these frats and what they stand for and is worried about Brad.James Franco makes a comedic guest appearance as an older former college frat who drops in to tell the new recruits that being a member of the house means joining a brotherhood who always watch your back.Apart from the disturbing scenes of the various initiations and the fraternity members later falling apart when disaster strikes there is little story here. It is even not that interesting because it lacks the darkly comic humour that this film needed.

This film gets 90-percent of the way there. As a story of the relationship between two brothers, during a stressful time in the life of one, it's poignant and wonderful. To a discerning eye Goat's setting in a fraternity will come across, through most of the film, merely as set dressing for the underlying story, rather than an indictment of fraternity life generally. And at that level it works beautifully. Unfortunately, the last twenty minutes of the film flips into an anti-fraternity rant that, while not exactly coming out of nowhere, could have been better left on the cutting room floor. Nonetheless, Goat is a powerful and emotional film that, in this reviewer's mind, is touching, as opposed to disturbing as some have called it. The character development in Goat, beyond the two brothers, is minimal but the level of vague ambiguity it creates works perfectly in helping focus attention on their relationship.Nick Jonas' acting chops were a wonderful surprise. Ben Schnetzer and Gus Halper also deliver unrelentingly powerful performances.James Franco's sudden, albeit brief, appearance, is a little out-of-place and the presence of his character somewhat unrealistic.