[14] Additionally, Diveroli claimed, but later dismissed, the film was falsely marketed as a true story, and stole material from his 2016 memoir Once a Gun Runner.

David runs into his old friend Efraim Diveroli, who has formed his own company, AEY Inc., selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq.

David and Efraim land a contract to provide several thousand Beretta pistols to the Iraqi Police in Baghdad, but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment, which is waylaid in Jordan.

The trio drives through the night, bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents, and arrive at the military base, where Captain Santos is impressed that they survived the Triangle of Death; the two are paid handsomely.

AEY secures larger and more lucrative deals, expanding their operation, and David's daughter Ella is born, while Efraim grows more unstable and untrustworthy.

Facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition, the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Girard, who has access to massive unused weapon depots in Albania.

Preparing the shipment in Albania, David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese-made and illegal due to a US embargo; to conceal this, Efraim has the ammunition repackaged.

When Enver reveals that he knows about the true reason for the repackaging, he indirectly threatens to rat them out to US authorities, causing David to promise to get Efraim to pay him.

Efraim is sentenced to four years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on the Afghan deal, while David pleads guilty and gets seven months' house arrest for his cooperation.

Initially, Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf were set to star in the film;[17] however, Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were eventually cast.

[5] In the United States and Canada, War Dogs was released on August 19, 2016, alongside Ben-Hur and Kubo and the Two Strings, and was projected to gross $12–15 million from 3,100 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's critical consensus reads, "War Dogs rises on the strength of Jonah Hill's compelling performance to take a lightly entertaining look at troubling real-world events.

[33] ScreenCrush's Matt Singer said, "Superficially, the movie looks a lot like past Phillips comedies about men behaving badly, with dirty jokes and wacky hijinks galore.