Review of War Dogs (2016) by I Am A — 01 Oct 2017

Yet another spin of the greed is good / rags-to-riches American success story formula pioneered by Oliver Stone's 1987 classic Wall Street", still heavily used by all the others.

This is a true story about 20-something guys (Jonah Hill, Miles Teller) exploiting a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts during the Iraq War. They begin raking in big money but soon get in over their heads. Also starring, Bradley Cooper, Ana de Armas, Kevin Pollak.

This type of movies usually depend heavily on the coolness of the leading actors, and Hill + Teller surely is an exciting combo. Hill's work is especially noteworthy, giving the staple comedy actor a chance to create an unusually multifaceted character, a sociopathic narcissistic dude.

War Dogs" also has the typical weakness of this type of movie: underdeveloped final act. After taking their sweet time showing all about the humble beginning and rise to fame and fortune, the later events are shown in a hurry. Stuff happens because it has to happen, not because the story has evolved to this point naturally.

Director Todd Phillips is known for moderately funny but not especially inventive mainstream comedies (Road Trip", Old School", 2004's Starsky and Hutch", School for Scoundrels", The Hangover" trilogy, Due Date"). This is his first break from the mold, and surely a refreshing step in new direction.

Like some of the best screen stories, "War Dogs" is not tied to a particular genre such as comedy or action or drama. It has a bit of everything which has always been one of the most attractive aspects of this type of rags to riches movies.

By the way, the poster design is a parody of the iconic poster for mafia classic Scarface", which is referenced throughout the film; also, Hill was born in 1983 when Scarface" was released. I don't know if it's really important in some way.

It's a solid way to spend nearly two hours, but there's a great number of movies of the same type already. Don't expect to remember it in the morning.