Yesterday I previewed “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” the other George Clooney flick that is opening this season. (Have you heard about this thing called “Up in the Air”?) I confess: I went in skeptical, but I was blown away.

“The Men Who Stare at Goats,” opening Friday in St. Louis, is the more-or-less true story of the America’s secret program to train an army of Jedi warriors–psychics who could disarm enemies with mindpower.

When I interviewed  director Grant Heslov afterward, he said that the movie was about 60 percent true. There really was a psychic research program started by a Vietnam vet who wanted to use the Force to make a better world.

Of course, Hollywood takes liberties with the truth, and Heslov should know. He is the screenwriter of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” based on journalist Edward R. Murrow’s pushback against anti-Communist zealot Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Heslov and business partner Clooney had to fight to get the movie made and released while pro-war conservatives were controlling the public debate.

“Good Night, and Good Luck” was an artistic and financial success. Yet for 20 years before that, Heslov toiled as an actor, largely consigned to playing swarthy Arabs and/or terrorists in brain-dead blockbusters. He had small roles in “True Lies,” and “The Scorpion King” and the cable series “Sleeper Cell.”

Here’s the thing: Heslov isn’t an Arab (not that’s there’s anything wrong with that). He’s Jewish. I know because he and I were fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California in the early ’80s. One of his heroes is Woody Allen, about whom Heslov made his first short movie, “Waiting for Woody.”

In an acting class, Helsov met a handsome fellow from Cincinnati named George Clooney. They later co-starred in an episode of “Facts of Life.” They remained friends, and over the years they helped each other up the ladder.

Clooney has been the one with the more visible career, but Heslov has reaped rewards from the partnership. He earned an Oscar nomination for “Good Night, and Good Luck” (which Clooney directed) and Heslov finally landed a feature-length directing gig with “The Men Who Stare at Goats.”

The movie’s a hoot, partly thanks to Clooney playing against type but also thanks to Heslov’s absurdist sense of humor. Here’s the trailer: