While there are probably not enough movies to call it a trend just yet, recent American cinema has portrayed real life fraud, duplicity and malfeasance with a certain pop culture pizazz. Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street” was practically celebratory of Jordan Belfort’s well-heeled, hedonistic, and wholly illegal romp through the financial world. Then there’s Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” that presented the 2008 housing market bubble like a music video crossed with an informercial. And now there’s Todd Phillips‘ “War Dogs,” which tells the true story of a couple of ambitious young men who worked in the grey area of arms dealing, and made millions. It might not be as frenetic as those aforementioned pictures, but it’s mostly just as entertaining, even if lacking in moral bite.
These kinds of stories start as they usually do, with someone wanting to better their lives and experience the American Dream. In this case it’s David Packouz (Miles Teller), a college dropout and licensed massage therapist working in Miami, trying desperately to make a bit more cash by selling bulk bedsheets to retirement homes. The scheme isn’t working and David gets a real wake up call when his girlfriend Iz (Ana de Armas) announces she’s pregnant. It’s time for David to make some real money so he can take care of his family.
Enter Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), David’s childhood best friend, recently returned home to Florida from California, where he was helping his uncle sell weapons, previously seized by the police, online. Efraim is a big guy, with an equally big reputation following him around; even as a grown man, David’s parents try to keep Efraim from him. And that’s not to mention that Efraim’s dealings with his uncle ended under shady circumstances. But he’s back on his feet and making good money bidding on legal contracts to supply the U.S. military with equipment. He’s still small time, leaving the supersized contracts to the bigger players, and grabbing the “crumbs” instead, though it’s still enough that he’s clearing six figures. But he needs help, and David needs a job, and the pair quickly join forces. Soon, Efraim’s company, AEY Inc., is making major inroads, and the contracts are getting bigger, with the “Scarface” picture on his office wall not just representing his business philosophy, but also a prophecy.
“War is an economy,” David says in the mostly pointless voiceover narration that peppers the film, a superfluous flourish, along with the chapter titles, that are dropped mostly haphazardly throughout the picture. But credit to screenwriters Stephen Chin, and Todd Phillips and Jason Smilovic, for actually illustrating that statement. Not just literally — an early scene tallies up the $17,500 cost for arming a single American soldier, infographic style — but figuratively too, depicting a world where the end-to-end sales of weapons usually involves more than a few hands in between. As Efraim observes, the U.S. military wants the stuff, but they don’t always want to know how they get it, and while there are laws in place, they aren’t naive about how all this works either. And so, operations like AEY Inc. have to figure out how to stay on the right side of the law on one hand, while dealing with suppliers who may be sourcing their product somewhat questionably on the other. And it’s only a matter of time for AEY until that delicate balance is thrown out of whack.
Bedazzled with rings and jewellery, with his hair slicked back, and a laugh that’s both contagious and high-squealed sleazy, Hill’s Efraim is an egomaniacal hoot. The actor enjoyably portrays the charisma Efraim possesses that lures in clients and even David, but also his prominent streak of asshole fuelled selfishness. And playing the straight man, Teller doesn’t have much of a chance as David. He’s the blander part of the equation, and while his buttoned down demeanor works well in a dynamic with Hill, it renders the scenes with Iz — which are fairly undercooked to begin with — rather dull. And while “War Dogs” jarringly accelerates the friction between the pair which is the gasoline on the fire of their downfall, Teller and Hill work so well together, it doesn’t take long for the picture to realign itself for the requirements of the third act. It’s just too bad that much about this portion of the movie, which should really be its sobering dramatic punch, doesn’t quite land that way, nor recovers from losing the energy of the first two acts.
Directing his first film since 2013’s “The Hangover Part III,” Phillips’ style is the same as ever, displaying a certain visual flashiness, but generally not getting in the way of the story or performances. His penchant for FM classic rock has not softened one bit, and “War Dogs” is packed with so many songs, you almost wonder why Phillips bothered hiring someone as distinctive as Cliff Martinez to score the film, if you’re only to going to leave most of it out. But it does make one curious about the moodier film that could’ve been, particularly when Phillips’ tendencies toward classic rock ‘n roll jams can sometimes feel like a familiar crutch.
While “War Dogs” won’t go down as one of the great films about misconduct on a national level, it’s undeniably a decent enough popcorn ride. The film doesn’t quite hum the same way when the focus moves away from David and Efraim, from Teller and Hill. But when they’re in the frame, the pair are so engaging in their hustle, the audience may not even realize they’re already halfway being sold on the movie. [B]