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The college drama "Goat" does to audiences what the frat brothers depicted in it do to their pledges: run them through a gantlet of horrific experiences, bringing everyone together through brutal catharsis.
The movie, based on Brad Land's memoir, starts with Brad (Ben Schnetzer), a college freshman who, after getting robbed and brutally beaten, aims to prove his manhood by pledging to the same fraternity to which his older brother Brett (Nick Jonas) already belongs.
Director Andrew Neel devotes the entire middle portion of the film to a savage depiction of the rituals of fraternity hazing: verbal abuse, physical discomfort, dangerous amounts of force-fed alcohol, a cameo by James Franco (as an intense fraternity alum) and, yes, a goat.
These scenes put the strong young cast through their paces, with Schnetzer ("Pride," "The Book Thief") in particular giving a breakout performance that encapsulates Neel's exploration of masculinity and its faults.
'Goat'
Opens Friday, Sept. 23, at the Tower Theatre; rated R for disturbing behavior involving hazing, strong sexual content and nudity, pervasive language, violence, alcohol abuse and some drug use; 96 minutes.