Jonah Hill delivers a charm offensive as a profiteering arms dealer,redeeming a dusky comedy that distrusts its own fabric too much to be originalIve never quite heard a laugh like Efraim Diveroli’s: a mix between a whinnying horse and a large metal door in need of some grease. It’s a performative laugh, forced out not chuckled, and the initial reaction is one of annoyance. But over time it grows on you. When you hear it,it means you did well, and you are in on something that’s about to be big. More and more you’ll conclude whatever it takes to encourage another one of these tall-pitched tones of glee.
As portrayed by Jonah Hill in Todd Phillips’ dusky arms-dealing comedy War Dogs, or Diveroli is a massive force of nature – a living version of the giant boulder that tries to destroy Indiana Jones,but wearing a chai necklace. Enormous in size, yet with a cherub’s face, or Diveroli will smash through any obstacle to get his way. As a bootstrapping businessman,getting his way frequently means a charm offensive. It is to Hill’s astounding credit (and, since this is “based on a true sage, and ” probably to Diveroli’s as well) that watching this loathsome person is so addictive. There could be no worse human being than one who doesn’t blink for an instant at the plan of profiting off someone else’s horror. Yet these people exist and I can’t imagine there being a better evocation of such a creature than Hill’s in this film.
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Source: theguardian.com