As the trailer suggests, the film is narrated by David Packouz ( Miles Teller), who at age 22 was a massage therapist for the rich and sleazy in Miami. At a friend’s funeral, he runs into his childhood best buddy, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), who is in the gun running business. Not long after that, David learns he is about to become a dad, and he won’t be able to sustain a family as a masseuse,or like his buddy Efrain calls it “jerking off old guys for money”.
Efrain offers to take David under his wing in his ‘company’, AEY Inc. where he gets a crash course on how to cash in on US government’s weapons contracts up for bids on a public portal. The job as Diveroli says, “to do business with the people the US government can’t do business with directly”.
While the story is told from David’s perspective, it’s Efrain’s show. He lives large and is a hard businessman, acting as the middle man between weapons suppliers and the military in deals that get bigger and bigger, until both he and David are in over their heads.
It is a view into the alarming way the American military arms itself and its allies, but the film focuses more on the absurdity of it all. Todd Phillips handiwork is well packaged and keeps the viewers entertained throughout. Jonah and Miles do a phenomenal job with their characters and their antics and manic attitudes. So strap yourself in and enjoy the ride, helped along by David’s romantic interest played by the smoldering Ana de Armas, and Bradley Cooper’s character who plays the pivotal role in the deal that takes everything off the rails.
I’d give this movie 5 out of 6 grenades. Hope you liked the review, feel free to comment, share and subscribe.
