War Dogs

Based on a true story, “War Dogs” follows two friends in their early 20s (Hill and Teller) living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War who exploit a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Starting small, they begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a 300 million dollar deal to arm the Afghan Military—a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government. 

I went into War Dogs expecting a Hangover -styled comedy with lots of laughs and everything that could go wrong going wrong.  However, I was pleasantly surprised with a much more serious movie.  It reminded me of a modern day American Hustle.  It also helps that Bradley Cooper looks like he walked off the set of American Hustle into War Dogs. 

David Packouz, played by Miles Teller, is a college drop out struggling to make ends meet when he finds out that his girlfriend, Iz, is pregnant.  Despite not supporting the United States being in war he decided to go work for his old school friend, Efraim Diveroli, played by Jonah Hill.  Efraim supplies guns and ammo to the United States army.  David struggles to keep what he is doing a secret from his girlfriend while making a considerable amount of money to raise is new family.  David and Efraim make the deal of a lifetime when they illegally partner with a terrorist, Henry Girard, played by Bradley Cooper.  David wants to play things safe but Efraim only sees how much money he could make, and wants to make more. 

I really enjoyed this movie, I felt the story was fresh and original and still interesting.  Like I said earlier, I was expecting this movie to be more of a bro-comedy then the drama that I got.  While the trailers showed David and Efraim partying and laughing it up the part I was really drawn to in the movie was David's home life.  While his girlfriend Iz and his daughter were more of a subplot they helped put into perspective everything he was putting on the line by living the life of a gun runner. The movie has some pretty dark turns you would not expect after such a fun marketing campaign comparing it to The Hangover. I highly recommend this film if you enjoyed American Hustle. 

If you are interested in learning more about the real life duo, you can read the Rolling Stones article that the movie is based off of here : http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stoner-arms-dealers-20110316