War Dogs Review: A Fascinating, Unique Twist on War Movies

You should have stopped in Portugal because there are no military arms deals I know of there.

“This is fantastic!” you say to the producer. I highly recommend this to people who enjoy this kind of true-crime tale, and I fully expect Phillips to get some well-deserved critical acclaim out of this. I never thought I’d say this of a Todd Phillips joint: the director is better than the script.

You hang up the phone.

The Wolf of Wall Street star Hill recently appeared on shock jock Howard Stern’s SiriusXM Radio show and when pressed by the DJ to address gossip he and Teller “f**king hated each other”, Jonah insisted, “No, no, no”. And while none of those real men resemble Clooney, Pitt, or, DiCaprio, they also don’t look much like Jonah Hill.

Of course, Miles Teller and Jonah Hill aren’t Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.

“War Dogs” starts with a guy in the trunk of a auto and works backward, ending two hours later over the sound of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”. He stars as Efraim Diveroli, a not so-nice Jewish boy from Miami who has figured out how to make millions via the US government by bidding on contracts posted on FedBizOps, a government-run website where anyone can bid on government jobs, some of which include arms procurement. I was like, “F*ck.’ So, you make changes”.

“Bradley and I obviously met on “The Hangover” movies and we became really fast friends”, said Phillips.

Efraim blows back into Miami – with his slicked-back hair, overdone tan, and unusual laugh – ready to bring David in on his guns and ammo business. These two guys, who know nothing about arms dealing, get caught up in some pretty nasty stuff.

Life was good for Efraim and David, whose sole goal was to become millionaires. As the Iraq War continues, Efraim discovers the USA government has opened bidding on a massive amount of weapon orders. They hold meetings at strip clubs because of course they do. He has no defining characteristics, nothing to make us identify with him, or even despise him.

And sure, antiheroes usually aren’t nice guys.

Of course, Phillips also plays to some laughs, but the pervasive bro vibe (literally, Efraim calls David “bro” about seven times) plays against the drama. Teller is given the less interesting role, but they make for a good pairing. Who would have thought that it would be so easy to sneak into a war zone?

War Dogs is made by director Todd Phillips, the same guy who’s made The Hangover movies and the very likeable Starsky & Hutch. The film’s weapons industry setting is just a goofy setup for a buddy comedy, starring two boring buddies.