Wag the Dog [VHS]

This review refers to the New Line Platinum Series DVD "Wag The Dog"....

The Preisdent of the United States has just been acussed by a "Firefly Girl" of improper advances to her, right in the Oval Office, no less. The story is about to break, and all hell will break loose. The President has 11 days until election day to gain the Public's favor in order to gain re-election. What to do?It's time to call in the big guns.Enter "Mr. Fix-it". He will put a spin on the situtation that will take care of everything.Sound familiar? Art imitating life? Or could it be the other way around, as Hollywood meets Washington for a poltical satire, that may not be so far off base.

Robert DeNiro heads an all star cast as Conrad Brean, the most sought after spin-doctor in D.C. He always"working on it", as he heads the public off the bad publicity and onto the President's campaign trail.He hires a big time Hollywood Producer(Dustin Hoffman) to "Produce" a war. Who will we go to war with? How bout Albania? Albania????,you ask. Why Albania? Well.. why
not? And this is not to be some little Independant production. This will be big time. Like the big Hollywood studios, they pull out all the stops. Complete with a theme song, logos, a hero and some great publicity. If things seem to be going wrong, i.e., the opposition and the C.I.A. are on to them, don't worry cause Connie "Is working on that".

The film is great fun and is loaded with talent.A great screenplay as expected from David Mamet and Hilary Henkin.At the helm is the wonderful Barry Levinson, and also lending their charms are Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Woody Harrelson, Willie Nelson,William H Macy, Craig T. Nelson and Kirsten Dunst.

All this fun is presented on a terrific DVD. The picture(widescreen or fullscreen) and colors qualities are excellent. The sound in Dolby Dig 5.1(English or French) very good. Tons of extras. Commentary, featurettes, an essay, and filmographies.

Enjoy and don't sweat the politics..cause.."Connie's working on
it.."...Laurie

also recommended:
Primary Colors

A lot of people knocked this film for being a rip-off of current events. Nothing could be further from the truth! What makes this satire so amazing is that its all coming true. For example:

1) This movie was made BEFORE the lewinsky/clinton scandal but the details were frighteningly similar

2) It told us the war of the future would be against dissident terrorists plotting against the US from camps in some remote country...years before we had heard of al Qaeda, 9/11, or a war in afghanistan

3) Watching Willie Nelson leading the 9/11 Tribute to Heroes telethon in singing "God Bless America" seemed like it was a rip-off of this movie.

To many, the premise of this movie may have seemed absurd when it was released. But each passing year reveals how closer it is to the truth than we think. For a scary, thought-provoking satire of Hollywood and Washington, check this movie out.
If it was a 2002 film, people would say it was a clever satire. That it was made in 1997 qualifies it as an absolute classic.

When I saw this film at the cinema I thought it was a half decent parody of the Clinton administration, and the devious behaviour of politicians in general. As an ex civil servant I thought it was an extreme piece of satirical commedy with a clear message on the dangers of "spin". Had I rated it at he time, I would have given it a strong 3 star rating.

Given the events since the film, it's message and relevancy have become more important. The writers and director weren't intending to be prophetic (unlike Chaplin's the great dictator), but real world events have given this film a second lease of life! Great example of reality imitating art ......

This riveting media yarn with some big acting stalwarts is so dead-on in the way it balances biting humor with its life-like pizzazz that PR trainers could almost use it as a training film.

It is above all a satire, but it makes no bones about including every American voter, reporter and politician in the cross-hairs of its comic cannon.

The slyest farcical element of the film is the fact that the president is wholly irrelevant. (He's not even a character, short of being an unheard voice on the other end of phone calls making superfluous suggestions, like that the cat should definately be white.)

No matter what your political persuasion, or how cynically you regard the goings-on in the White House (or any other political helm), you will surely find something entertaining in this hilarious yet very, very intelligent film.

6 out of 5 stars in terms of recommendation. In other words, buy it.

This satire directed by Barry Levinson (And Justice For All) rather than becoming 'dated' gets more delicious and enlightening with age.

The title 'Wag The Dog', originally referred to the need for reality to fashion itself to conform to the power of television. In order to play to the people, the facts had to be styled to meet the method of distribution.

The film now offers a much greater lesson and a warning to the population of the great lengths to which politicians and the government might go to deceive the American people and/or fabricate 'truth' to suit their own end.

The commentary, although only five years old, has become the most 'dated' feature on the DVD.

The multiple occurrences of: the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, the terrorists and 09/11/2001, colored ribbons, 'spontaneous' waves of patriotism, and the recent war in Iraq (particularly the revelation of the true facts surrounding the rescue of Jessica Lynch) have made 'Wag The Dog' more cutting edge with the advent of each individual incident.

Today's viewers must continually and repeatedly jolt themselves back to reality with reminders that they are NOT viewing an educational documentary on 'spin' or a how-to-film outlining methods for fabricating and implementing diversion, but are instead viewing an entertaining and satirical film developed well before the occurrence of any of the events listed above.

This is a film where David Mamet, well known for his realistic dialogue, had the character's speaking the future in a most frightening way.

'Wag The Dog' is great viewing for new and repeat viewers alike. It is a reminder of how we the public can be misled by what we see and hear in the press and on television. The film itself is however not misleading, but thought-provoking, and as it chillingly turns out, perhaps even more realistic than we knew in 1997.

I'd make room on your DVD shelf for this one - "Wag the Dog" deserves a place alongside Kubrick's "Dr.Stragelove" with its cutting-edge political satire. Few films give such an accurate vision of the spin-doctors at work creating the imagery that we see on the news on a nightly basis.

I will say that this comedy is not for everyone. The pacing is slow at first, and much of the humor is dark satire. Fans of slapstick comedy will find no amusement here - this is a fairly sophisticated film satirizing the modern media climate. However, if you've ever wondered what goes on behind-the-scenes, this film shows a very accurate view of the public relations wizards at work changing public sentiment with well-placed rumors.

Im suprised somebody at New Line Cinema didnt get Iced for making this film. Too Too Real !!!!!. I guess the elite know the masses wont even watch it.

A dark comedy that mirrored the dark comedy of the time it was made.

A well acted movie, DeNiro and Hoffman play off each other very well. Hoffman's tag line at every problem just gets funnier every time it it used.

My wife was shocked at the ending, I can't say I was.

Look for Kristen Dunst and William M Macy in small roles. Anne Heche does a great job playing off DeNiro as well. A lot of good acting takes place here.

Like THE MISSION the darkness of this film at least for me makes it a poor choice to watch a 2nd time, but it should be watched once.

It's only 11 days before the presidential election. All is well until- OOPSY DAISY!! The president himself rapes a visiting firefly girl, in the whitehouse! Enter Anne Heche as the press secretary and Robert De Niro as Conrad Brean, spin-god and clean-up man extraordiaire. Together, they must find a way to divert the public's attention until after the election. They enlist the help of hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) in order to fabricate something big in a hurry. Can they get the current scandal wiped from the front pages of the papers in time? Yes, of course they can! With the help of a small army of actors, singers, advertising types, etc., Motss delivers a war with Albania! Why? Because they have "the bomb"! Not only that, but it's a suitcase bomb, and it's already in Canada, waiting to cross the border and destroy us! Watch as theme songs are concocted to fit the pre-arranged outcome! See slogans and catch-phrases on t-shirts and TV screens! Wonder at the gung-ho spirit of the manipulated masses as they participate in the greatest scam ever conceived! I love WAG THE DOG. It is a perfectly executed lampoon of all things political / commercial. This is the cynic's dream and the paranoid conspiracy theorist's nightmare! There are no good guys in this movie. Everyone is either dirty or totally oblivious. The words "republican" or "democrat" are never mentioned (the president's face is never shown), after all, party affiliation is irrelevant when we're all just an audience for the great charade. WTD is a movie that everyone should see at least twice. Once for the acidic humor, then again for the lurking truth behind it! Anne Heche's verbal assault on Hoffman's character (right after the plane crash) is priceless! Highly recommended...

With the lifts in his shoes rivaling in height the moussed masses of his hair, Hoffman plays an egomaniacal Hollywood producer who has done it all, seen it all. "You think this is trouble," he says consolingly to his new colleagues from the White House as ever-worse disasters befall them while orchestrating, on a Hollywood soundstage, a fake military attack against the U.S. "Try having three Italian starlets whacked out on Benzedrine and grappa."

Wag the Dog, a profoundly cynical but also profoundly funny political satire, takes as its starting position that all politics is show business. The military attack, which Hoffman has been recruited to produce by a top presidential spinmeister (De Niro), is part of a disinformation campaign aimed at distracting voters from the real news that, with an election looming, the fictional current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has dallied in his office longer than prudent with a teenage Fire-Fly Girl. Sound familiar? All good satire is rooted in truth.

Sprinting in at only 97 minutes, Wag is a below-the-Beltway comic triumph for director Barry Levinson and his game cast, who shot the film in just 29 days for $15 million. De Niro excels as the shambling shaman, Anne Heche is amusingly uptight as a presidential aide along for the ethical slide, and Woody Harrelson scores with a goofy, unbilled cameo as a pill-popping psycho. But it is Hoffman's toweringly pygmyesque producer (who savvy show business insiders are claiming bears some resemblance to onetime studio head Robert Evans) who is the art and soullessness of the movie.

Quirky political satire worth watching & buying.