War is a funny business

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2016)

This is my review of War Dogs (spoiler free).
*** (3/5) Cast: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Ana de Armas, Bradley Cooper.
Plot: Two men who were best friends in high school decide to reunite and become arms dealers, but as their life they get a deal that could possibly be the best deal for them, however this deal could be a big mistake for these two.
War Dogs is sold as a comedy. Yet it is the most serious adult war comedy out there. After director Todd Phillips' made an impact in the comedy world with the Hangover trilogy yes even the clunky, unfunny sequels. This is quite a challenge for him as he tries to create grown-up material without a naked Ken Jeong leaping on one of their faces. Yet he succeed with a sort of funny adult war story that has a few laughs sprouting every now and then but it is mostly serious. David Packouz (Teller, still keeping his master performance from Whiplash in play) is a man who wants more from his life rather than being a salesman of expensive Egyptian sheets and his life as a licensed masseuses, until he sees an old friend from high school Efraim Diveroli (Hill) and they get back together again. David and Efraim are now friends again and Efraim introduces him to his job and he is instantly jealous of his life. Although this feels much like the Wolf of Wall Street especially with the narration this mainly comes from David this makes the whole experience a whole lot better.
As the story goes on the comedy standards get better and funnier and this also makes for fun dialogue, mainly said by the two lead characters. However the two lead actors are both ten years older than the characters they are playing yet with their riveting performances you seem to forget that. It's also filled with pretty good action although not as good as a Scorsese masterpiece but the pacing feels the same in this and the pacing is spaced out to show that the director certainly didn't rush to make this feature. There is pretty good action not much in terms of violence but mainly from the use of guns, and also the funny one liners each of the lead roles come out with. In one scene when the two friends go to Albania a country literally torn by war they have to deliver a ton of ammo in a very short time but as this goes through David has to stay there alone while, Efraim gets drunk and also he does the most sinister thing ever which will probably end their friendship, however Efraim realizes his mistake and tries to make it better, without success. There are even emotional standards in the film. Although filled with masculinity apart from the one woman Ana de Armas' Iz who is David's girlfriend but that is all the femininity that this film has to offer so mostly men. Especially with Bradley Cooper's top arms dealer Henry Girard's random outburst "See this is why I like arms dealing - no women." Although apart from all the funny outbursts this peace of comedy is mostly serious, with a much similar tone to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot another comedy about a war torn country and the lead role goes there to try an sort things out. So essentially based on the Hangover series and yes even the Wolf of Wall Street, this shows to be a film that is based around war time can serious and funny at the same time.
Verdict: Buoyed by riveting performances and pretty action, this proves that Todd Phillips can do grown-up material without a naked Ken Jeong.
6/10 Rude and laugh out loud funny.