Formulaic with few redeeming qualities

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2016)

Shiftless dreamer (Miles Teller) with hot girlfriend paints himself into a corner financially. In need of a lifeline, a mysterious old friend (Jonah) shows up out of nowhere. Jonah plays Efraim, who is a shady commodities broker specializing in government contracts and weapons. With this type of partnership what could go wrong? Hijinks ensues. Morality becomes an issue. Friendship? All goes to hell, plus a tack on ending.
Any seasoned mediaphile knows exactly where this movie is headed 10 minutes in, and very few surprises interfere with this predictable journey.
Whether the formulaic story was present in 'from actual events', or the fictionalization of them, that I can not tell you. I understand that this is one of those truth is stranger than fiction type of accounts - but that doesn't mean it will make a good movie!
While the story of this film may belong to Teller, this film is without question a Jonah Hill vehicle. His performance could have saved this movie, but it doesn't. As a viewer were supposed to buy into his chameleon like ability to become what other people want. He's supposed to be a sociopath con artist, but really he just comes across as an overweight, obnoxious lout with an annoying laugh. This is enforced by an absurd look and equally off putting vocabulary.
I believe in Jonah as an actor, so I'm going to blame everyone else (writer/director) for building a bad character. Jonah simply followed through as part of the project. But this is equally mystifying because of the one gem in this film: Bradley Cooper. His smarmy, red eyed take on an international criminal on a US terrorist watch list... is glorious to behold. Also completely squandered with about 5 total minutes of screen time... So what happened with Jonah? I don't know. Unfortunate, because if his character was believable, this movie would have received a huge upgrade.
I'd say this is a pretty good movie for Teller, his character isn't asked to do much heavy lifting acting wise, but he is acceptable as the strait guy pulled into a bizarre world of war economics.
Solid production values as well - and really this was a pretty complex movie with all the locations. Very clean, and I appreciated the audio work as well. Good night club scene, with a funny cameo by Vegas legend (& most interesting man in the world candidate) Dan Bilzerian
Predictably (again) this movie gets off to pretty good start, but the second things stop being fun the movie runs into pacing issues, and truly falls on its face in terms of entertainment. By the end your really glad its over, and will probably wonder like me... was five minutes of excellent acting by Bradley Cooper really worth it?
needless film that neither educates nor entertains, and fails to make good use of the talent - 4 out of 10