Starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. Rated 14A. Opens Friday, February 26, at the Cinemark Tinseltown

On the face of it, Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Six Feet Under’s intense Ben Foster) seems a poor choice for a public-relations detail. A decorated war hero just back from Iraq, his wounds still trouble him and his generally testy attitude goes well with that “USA: Bad Motherfuckers” tattoo on his shoulder.

With only three months left in the army, he is suddenly handed over to Cpt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson, in a career-topping performance), a decade-older veteran of Gulf War I and already experienced at telling family members that a loved one has just been shot or blown to bits in a faraway but oil-rich country. As you might imagine, the two men don’t take to each other right away. They have things in common, though, including a weakness for booze and a terse way with women. Stone sticks to barmaids and floozies, while Montgomery still yearns silently for the sweetheart (Jena Malone, in a couple of fine scenes) he let drift away while overseas.

Based in New Jersey, the soldiers must don dress uniforms and deliver bad news with a stiff upper lip. “I won’t be giving any hugs,” the younger man reassures his new boss, although this is actually a tip-off to his emotional weakness—something the rest of us might call a strength. Will’s resolve is tested by encounters with bewildered parents (Steve Buscemi stands out) and spouses, especially when he is drawn to a sullen widow played by an almost unrecognizably heavy Samantha Morton.

That semiromantic subplot is perhaps the only weak, or at least unnecessary, link in a very strong—and remarkably nonmelodramatic—chain of events crafted by first-time director Oren Moverman, an Israeli-born filmmaker working with Italian cowriter Alessandro Camon. Guess all the Americans were busy.