Director: Todd Phillips. 114 mins. (15)
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis
Reunited during a funeral, childhood best friends Efraim (Jonah Hill) and David (Miles Teller) decide to start a company procuring the American government for small military contracts.
As there are tens of thousands on offer, the chance of a quick, ridiculously high profit margin for their investments seems assured. After an initial run of success, the two embark on the biggest bid of their career - a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan.
Review by Jason Day
When a film draws its inspiration from an article in Rolling Stone magazine with the headline 'The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders' you know two things.
One: drugs will feature in the film at some point.
Two: Jonah Hill probably stars in it.
And star he does, going hell for leather with a performance that isn't so much full of garrulous vim and vigour but practically bursting at the seams with it. It's easy to pigeon-hole him as a purveyor of nothing but stoner comedies (admittedly, as I just have), but he is the sweaty heart and soul of this morally bankrupt set-up.
Teller, as the dubious conscience of the piece, perfectly holds the film together during Hill's brief sojourns from the screen and matches him when he returns.
Director/co-writer Phillips keeps the sleazy narrative on course throughout and leavens the questions about ethics and being a good citizen for his 'heroes' with some of the best wise-cracking one-liners and some critically questioning scenes.
For more, see the full review: http://bit.ly/WarDogsFilm
Cast & credits
Producers: Bradley Cooper, Mark Gordon, Todd Phillips.
Writers: Stephen Chin, Todd Phillips, Jason Smilovic.
Camera: Lawrence Sher.
Music: Cliff Martinez.
Sets: Bill Brzeski.
Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Pollak, J.B. Blanc, Julian Sergi, Shaun Toub, Mosa Omari.
