Rating: A-
Based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article, “The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders,” War Dogs tells the true story of two twenty-something childhood friends from Miami Beach who made millions during the Iraq War bidding on US military contracts.
Jonah Hill plays Efraim Diveroli, a fast-talking, money-crazed entrepreneur with a family tree full of arms dealers. Diveroli recruits David Packouz (Miles Teller), a struggling massage therapist with a baby on the way, to help him in his quest to become the world’s biggest arms dealer. Under the Bush administration’s small-business initiative, a certain percentage of the Pentagon’s defense contracts have to go to small-business owners, such as Packouz and Diveroli. The pair, bidding on contracts under the name AEY Inc, act as middlemen between the Pentagon and the shady world of international arms dealers.
The fact that the film is based on true events makes Teller and Hill’s antics all the more outrageous. During the movie, the pair drive a shipment of Italian Beretta pistols through Iraq’s Triangle of Death to avoid flight permits, and repackage Chinese bullets to ship off to the Afghan army. Directed by Todd Phillips, whose previous work includes the Hangover Trilogy, the film uses one-liners and lighthearted banter to highlight the truly shocking loopholes within the US Defense Department.
Hill and Teller both deliver excellent performances. Hill exemplifies the recklessness, tenacity, and gluttony of a young con getting his first taste of success. Teller acts as his more rational, although often askew, moral compass. Bradley Cooper arrives halfway through the film to act as catalyst, turning the duo’s success story into a darker tale of deceit and greed. While the story and the acting are both riveting, the predictable plot line, particularly Teller’s battle between love and money, leaves the film feeling a bit cliché.