Synopsis:
Comedic Drama [based on true events]. Two friends in their early 20s (Hill and Teller) living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War 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 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.
What We Thought:
Your level of enjoyment of War Dogs will probably be equal to how much you like Jonah Hill. If you like Jonah, you’ll like this. If you don’t, you probably won’t.
Me, I like Jonah as a person, I’ve met him and he was quite cordial to me, but as for his movies? Well I don’t tend to like them as much. The Sitter, 21 Jump Street, The Watch, not movies I’d ever watch again. Even the films he’s in that I liked, I might not have liked him in them. He tends to play the same role over and over again. He’s obnoxious, over the top, swears a lot for no reason and that doesn’t work for me. The worst part is, I think he can actually act. I loved him in Cyrus and thought he played a great supporting role in The Invention of Lying. I wish he stuck to roles like those.
As for this, well I didn’t really get into it. Jonah plays a loud, obnoxious, over the top gun runner who does blow and loves women. He makes a joke about not getting oral sex in a Muslim country. I rolled my eyes while the crowd roared. Sorry I just don’t buy it.
Miles Teller is perfectly fine as the “straight” guy to Jonah’s wild card. Someone else probably could have done the same job, but at least I didn’t mind watching Teller. He kept his scenes grounded and brought some authenticity to them whereas Hill’s character just seemed like he was his own worst enemy and shouldn’t be trusted.
If there’s one positive it’s Ana de Armas. In the past few months I’ve seen her in Knock Knock, Hands of Stone and now this. I believe she’ll be in the Blade Runner sequel which will only continue her rise here in the States. She’s beautiful, but quite talented too. I hope to see more of her.
The worst part is, there’s a good movie somewhere in War Dogs. The idea of two 20 something year olds becoming millionaire gun suppliers to the US government is a fantastic and fascinating story for a movie. Unfortunately this is more set on telling you how bad the war is and that George Bush was the devil. The trailers even ask, how did two 20 something year old get a $300 million contract with Pentagon? Well the film really isn’t about that. It’s more about war being bad and governments only having wars to make money on guns and weapons. No thanks, I’d rather get a real comedy from a comedy director not a rich man’s opinion on what we should and shouldn’t be doing.
I had hesitations about seeing War Dogs. The trailers did nothing for me and in fact, every joke in the movie is in the trailers. I smirked once during the entire film and was more annoyed than entertained. Hill plays an obnoxious jerk. Teller isn’t given too much to counter that and Bradley Cooper is in it just to show you that people get rich cause of war. If the idea of Jonah Hill shooting an AK-47 and doing coke and making sex jokes is your thing, you’ll love it. It’s not mine.
Cast & Crew:
- Jonah Hill
- Miles Teller
- Bradley Cooper
- Ana de Armas
The Nerds Templar 