Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover franchise, abandons his trademark bawdy tone in favour of this dramatic comedy inspired by a mind-boggling true story of two opportunistic hustlers who make a fortune in dodgy international arms deals during the Iraq war.
The prospect of making an entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny, film based in the dark underbelly of international arms dealing sounds like a nigh-on impossible feat, but Phillips has managed it with ease, largely due to the first-rate casting of Jonah Hill as the main player.
Hill plays Efraim Diveroli, a larger-than-life grifter who has fallen into the arms trade due to family connections. He decides to go solo to fully cash-in on a government initiative which allows small businesses to bid on US military contracts.
The money starts rolling in, and to capitalise on profits, he decides to enlist the help of his childhood buddy David Packhouz (Miles Teller), who ditches his day-job of a masseuse for rich old men in favour of scouring the Pentagon's website on the hunt for arms contracts.
"This isn't about being pro-war," Efraim insists to Packhouz when recruiting him to his business, "It's about being pro-money!"
The company starts off by picking up the small deals, or "crumbs", that the bigger arms companies don't bother with, but it's not long before the world's most unlikely arms dealers land "the whole pie", a $300 million deal to arm the Afghan military.
As you'd expect, they've bitten off more than they can chew, and in order to fulfil the contract they're forced to deal with some seriously shady characters, including Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper) a menacing so-and-so who's on the government's terrorist watch-list.
It's an outrageous tale and you can't help but get swept along with the pair's increasingly ridiculous exploits and excesses. It all hangs on Hill's powerhouse performance; he's crude, crass and yet somehow charming, all washed down with an irresistibly funny high pitched giggle.
Although in general the pace ticks along nicely in this rambunctious tale, it's not a total home run, and the film is weakest when dealing with Packouz's longsuffering, and criminally underwritten, girlfriend Iz (Ana de Armas).
In spite of this, Phillips has injected War Dogs with plenty of suspense and hilarity to keep you interested, and you can't help but root for these plucky little fish trying to navigate a murky ocean.
Sarah McIntyre
