Todd Phillips is first and foremost a director with an eye for comedy. From his earlier works that span from “Road Trip” and “Old School” to his much beloved “The Hangover.” Phillips can manage a chuckle or two, so it's tough to predict if fans will appreciate his newest project, “War Dogs.” Mainly because it’s vastly different from anything else he has done, light on the heavily saturated laughter that usually comes equipped with his films, and more emphasis on the canvas of the story. Because of this, “War Dogs” is Phillips, smartest and boldest movie in quite some time.

The story itself maybe hard to believe, as you wonder how anyone could ever get into the business of contracting weapons to the military. Which is exactly what long-time best friends, David Packouz (Miles Teller) and Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) end up doing. Becoming arms dealers for the US government (more or less). Their adventures span them across the globe, including a nasty run-in with Henry (Bradley Cooper) a weapons expert on a known terrorist watchlist and some machine gun wielding thugs on the outskirts of Iraq. Scenes that Phillips direct with a sense of authority without compromising the overall vision of the film.

Headlined by Hill and Teller, as the two pair up quite nicely together, and based on a Rolling Stone article from a few years back. “War Dogs” spurs along with clever sections, that are defined by a singular phrase. So a simple sentence will arrive on screen, which gives us a clue to what might happened in the next ten minutes, one phrase I really loved was “God Bless Dick Cheney's America” - funny stuff.

The exploitation of the American dream is the main selling point for these two high-stake playing businessmen. And at times, the film struggles with tonal issues (is it a dark comedy? Or a satirical take on the US government?) - I could argue for both. But Phillips, asks us to look at the glass half full, and understand the logistics of how our international diplomacy works. He doesn’t forgo political jargon in lieu of terms that the audience won’t understand. Instead, Phillips helps elevate the material to a higher degree, and caters to an audience that can keep up with the velocity of how the plot unfolds. Hill, who gained some weight for his role, is quick, zippy, and comical with his upper-class prolific demeanor, while Teller balances the act with his fiance woes (Ana de Armas) and serves as the overworked sidekick. Kevin Pollak makes his presence known as a Jewish investor midway through, that is quite humorous. Meanwhile we are still supposed to believe that two goofballs could run some elite, highly sanctioned, assault weapons through the Iraqi desert. Which, itself, is also hilarious, because these two men are just normal, everyday, working-class citizens, thrown into obscure situations. At one point a military official says to them, after delivering a payload of artillery “You drove these through the triangle of death?” - as if the two guys had no idea what they were doing. Why was this moment funny? Because they genuinely, had NO idea.

Phillips has tapped into something on a much deeper level, more so than he maybe ever has. When considering the state are country is in with the forthcoming election in November, it’s quite refreshing to see a film take a comedic jab at a powerful social hierarchy (that being, our government). Safe to say, when describing a Todd Phillips movie - (the man who directed the remake of “Starsky & Hutch” among others) - “hierarchy” was a word I never thought would be used in describing one of his movies. B+