Millennial Merchants of Death.
Best known for his work on The Hangover trilogy, Todd Phillips' latest film, War Dogs, tackles a much more serious subject, arms dealing, even if it does so in a semi-comedic manner. The film, which is based on a true story, follows the exploits of Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller) as they work the outlandish U.S. government system for arms procurement to their own advantage.
Although it opens in 2008 with their arms business well established, War Dogs quickly flashes back to 2005 to show us how David, a ne'er-do-well working as a masseuse and trying to hawk bed sheets to nursing homes, joins up with his once-and-future friend, Efraim, and gets into selling guns and various other bits of weaponry. The short explanation for his actions is that David enters into the business to make enough money to provide a good home for Iz (Ana de Armas), the love of his life, and the family they want to have together. Eventually though, he begins to like the lifestyle afforded him by his work.
Initially a neophyte in the arms trade, Efraim explains to David—and therefore the audience—that the U.S. government has a website offering up arms contracts and that big weapons dealers don't bid on the (relatively) small contracts, so Efraim does and makes a fortune on it. Efraim has a backer, Ralph (Kevin Pollak), who supplies the money and gets lied to about the specifics, including what he's owed in return.
In fact, Efraim lies to everyone. War Dogs offers absolutely no convincing explanation at all that Efraim is in any way trustworthy on any level about anything, but David trusts him nonetheless; after all, they were friends before Efraim moved away while the two were still young. Watching David trust Efraim when he shouldn't—and when the film gives absolutely no reason for David to trust him—is one of the more frustrating aspects of War Dogs.
Another frustration is that the movie never lives up to the heights of absurdity it promises. Early on, the audience sees just how silly the government system for procuring arms has become and how people like Efraim and David can manipulate that system. Phillips offers up the whole thing as comedy, with clever explanations about how Efraim and David both view and go about their job, something that feels akin to the explanation of how the heist will go down in Ocean's Eleven. But here, rather than dealing with a comically evil casino magnate, David and Efraim are faced with serious heavy-hitters, including the US. military and vicious arms dealers. Lives are at stake and it isn't funny.
Worse, for no particular reason, at one point David and Efraim decide to up their game, going from small arms deals that they can get away with to a big one that will test them in a new and different way. Why they make this leap is unclear. The only explanation War Dogs offers is that, amazingly, this huge deal appears on the government's website which is no sort of explanation at all when our leads have already talked quite specifically about not going for big deals. Predictably, they soon find themselves in over their heads.
At this point there is little joy left in the movie. War Dogs goes from being semi-comedic to deadly serious in a way that the audience can see coming and will find frustrating once it finally arrives. As the issues are presented, a modicum of common sense, a modicum of forethought, a modicum of intelligence could have prevented Efraim and David's troubles or even gotten them out once they were in too deep.
David is the audience's proxy in the film, but acts in a way it is difficult to imagine a human being acting. His struggles at work are mirrored by his increasing lies at home, ostensibly to protect Iz, who is only the flimsiest of characters in the first place. She exists solely to keep David grounded to some sort of reality; she is a tether and nothing more, complaining, questioning, and moving back in with her mother.
The best thing that happens in War Dogs' dark moments is the appearance of Bradley Cooper as a seedy arms dealer who wants to help them with their contract. However, as good as he is at being bad, his character only further highlights just how out-of-depth and ridiculous Efraim and David are with their plans.
The Verdict
War Dogs never manages to live up to the absurdity it promises, nor paints a full picture of the two characters at its center. It is at its best in its lighthearted explanation of how the government procures weapons and how the system can be manipulated. When it opts to take a turn for the serious, it falls apart. Efraim and David are built for a comedy world, and the turn to drama makes their real-world shortcomings readily apparent and frustrating to watch.
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