"War Dogs" Review

Last year, funnyman Adam McKay won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short, a movie based on real events about underdogs rising through the ranks of a flawed federal system. This year, funnyman Todd Phillips puts his hat in the same ring with War Dogs.

In 2005, David Packouz (Miles Teller) is a college dropout, looking for a calling that doesn't involve massaging greasy moguls. David reconnects with his childhood friend, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), for whom big spending and debauchery go hand in hand.

Efraim hires David as an arms dealer, the middleman between manufacturers and the military, negotiating contracts and profiting off the commission - a practice that earns the two men the title of "war dogs."

But how do two pot-smoking 20-somethings land million-dollar government contracts? It's simple, really. Quantity over quality.

"Everyone's looking at the whole pie," Efriam says. "But no one's going for the crumbs."

For a two-man operation, a small contract leads to more profit than a large one split among hundreds.

Add to that a willingness to fabricate, lie, and circumvent the law to land a deal, and suddenly it's not hard to fathom how a $200,000 deal could jump to $300 million.

The movie's politics meet somewhere between the anger of Big Short and the hedonism of Wolf. The Bush administration is present, most hilariously on a wayward trip to Fallujah, but it serves more as a figurehead for patriotic pro-war rhetoric.

In the opening narration, David says that when most people see a soldier, they see a country boy fighting for their freedom. Only the war dogs see the price tag attached to each person - about $17,500.

"If you say otherwise, you're either in on it, or you're stupid," David says.

Teller is a little miscast. I think he'd be better as the cock-of-the-walk gun runner, but he pumps his straight-man up well and with authenticity.

Hill is the standout - he's borrowing from his Donnie Azoff character, but his reedy laugh and rage-fueled outbursts are hysterical. David tells us Efraim becomes the person others want him to be, so seeing him change colors, such as when he pretends to be Jewish to win over a potential money launderer is a ridiculous riot.

The movie doesn't have Wolf's coked-up pace and despite being under two hours, it drags near the end. Some character choices only make sense because they serve the plot and the movie never reaches the same heights as its influences. But as far as crime dramedies with a Scorsese/De Palma spirit go, War Dogs is a worthy entertaining contender. Give it a matinee and you'll have a good time.

Thank you all for reading. I'm the Man Without a Plan, signing off.