"Along with their brilliant performances, another aspect that helps the movie flow is the great soundtrack that accompanies the film"

Based on the book Arms and the Dudes, written by Guy Lawson, War Dogs is a biographical crime, war, comedy film that uncovers the business side of the war and how much arm dealers can profit from it. The plot focuses on two friends, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller), who start a company together that supplies the US Military with weapons and munitions.

While, in the beginning, the two are interested in the small biddings to make a name for themselves, after gaining some successful accounts, they stumble upon one of the biggest opportunities for them, something that will put them on the US Army’s radar. The Afghan deal is an impossible bidding and their only chance to make as much profit as they can while spending half of the money. The two embark on something way bigger than what they expected and while Efraim is dead set on becoming rich, David risks to lose his family and everything else he loves to succeed in this endeavour.

Directed by Todd Phillips, the man that brought The Hangover trilogy to the screen, War Dogs is a movie that walks a fine line between comedy and drama, by mixing these two opposite categories, it brilliantly exposes a harsh and almost gory truth with an exaggerated and close to absurd story of two young guys getting way ahead of themselves to reach money and glory.

Throughout the film the tone of the story is for the most part dramatic in highlighting how opportunistic arm dealers can be profiting from war and devastation. However, thanks to Jonah Hill's natural comic nature and some scenes that are too absurd to be true, the film also has a lighter side that employs jokes and comedy to give the audience time to breathe and gain some relief after the brutal reality of war as a business is thrown in their faces.

Jonah Hill and Miles Teller make quite a strange pair, however, they work together effortlessly and, as Efraim and David, they showcase that kind of relationship and admiration between high school friends. What made their chemistry believable was the evolution of their friendship through the movie. They both missed the feeling of being in charge of their lives when they were young and their need to recreate that kind of power becomes the drive that pushes them to prove themselves with this impossible quest. Both just want to remember the best part of their friendship, however, while David recognises his limits, Efraim is still the immature boy who needs validation from his peers no matter the consequences.

As the selfish AEY CEO who just wants to be rich, Jonah Hill embodies his character easily; his boyish and kind of childish sense of humour allows him to understand Efraim completely and entirely lose himself in his erratic behaviour. On his part, Miles Teller is truthful to his character as well, without being afraid to show his flaws.

Along with their brilliant performances, another aspect that helps the movie flow is the great soundtrack that accompanies the film. The fast rhythm of all the well known songs matches the pace of the story and it makes it even more dynamic. This aspect along with the sharp editing employed to put together this story, makes the movie build rapidly without leaving space for any unnecessary scenes.

All in all, War Dogs is a movie that uses an interesting combination of drama and comedy to expose a well known and inconvenient truth about the war business.