The Wolf of Wallstreet reminded us that a true story about shady hustlers can be both really compelling and hilarious regardless of whether audiences grasp the logistics of the actual scheme. Now Todd Phillips, Director of Old School, The Hangover and its lousy sequels I’ll try to forgive him for, handles a similar script with a pair of actors keen for this type of setting. Jonah Hill proved his worth with a stellar supporting performance in Wallstreet and Miles Teller was exceptional in 2014’s Whiplash so War Dogs has all of the ingredients for a solid comedic drama.
Miles Teller narrates the film as David Packouz, a former massage therapist with a beautiful wife (Ana de Armas) who is expecting their first child. Eager to get out of a financial rut, Teller abandons an unsuccessful venture selling bed sheets to nursing homes to join his childhood friend, Efraim Diveroli (Hill) in his business selling low end equipment to the U.S. military. Their hustling takes them from personally smuggling a truck full of ammunition through the hostile Afghan desert to personally doing business with a registered terrorist (Bradley Cooper) in hopes of winning a multi-million dollar deal in the midst of the War in Iraq. Eventually, Diveroli’s sleaziness and arrogance coupled with Packouz’s naivety lands their business in hot water with the U.S. government.
Like Wolf of Wallstreet, the movie is filled with dark humor that almost always hits its mark thanks to the charisma of the two lead actors. Teller and Hill form a perfect balance and help carry the movie through its more predictable arcs. Neither are as good as Leonardo Dicaprio was in Wallstreet, but the expectation isn’t for them to be. Where War Dogs falls short is in its relatively predictable drama. Packouz’s marriage suffers, their friendship crumbles, and of course it all ends with legal fallout. But even the film’s more zanier moments, like the aforementioned trek through hostile Afghan territory (which apparently didn’t actually happen) is undoubtedly entertaining and each major player falls into their role. So even if War Dogs feels like Diet-Wolf of Wallstreet it’s a film that feels like solid entertainment.
FINAL GRADE: B