rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1997
Directed by Barry Levinson; produced by Robert De Niro, Barry Levinson, Jane Rosenthal; screenplay by Hilary Henkin, David Mamet
Starring Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, William H. Macy, John Michael Higgins, Kirsten Dunst
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Wag the Dog' is perfectly exaggerated to work as a satire. Like the best
satire-films ('Dr. Stranngelove', 'Being There') it pushes its possibilities
as far as possible, showing fiction in a way you really start wondering.
Yes, 'Wag the Dog' is fiction, but who says events shown are not possible,
at least at a little smaller scale? The film starts nine days before
Election Day and the current president has done a similar thing President
Clinton did; messing around with another girl than his wife. Conrad Brean
(Robert De Niro) is the guy to solve this problem. Together with Winifred
Ames (Anne Heche) he goes to a Hollywood producer named Stanley Motss
(Dustin Hoffman) to fake a war against Albania. Motss has to produce images
and such things, like he is producing a film, to make the war real for the
American public. Patriotism has to take away the attention from the
sex-scandal.
How the story develops from this point is not really the point, although I
must say the film does not step wrong. What is interesting is the way we
laugh at things since they are so ridiculous, but start wondering at the
same time. I mean, Colin Powell showed his satellite photographs to prove to
us why Iraq should be invaded. They were probably real, but didn't they look
like they were made on a computer by a 14-year old whizkid? And what about
the fake documentary about Adolf Hitler and the assault on his life, created
completely digitally, looking perfectly real. If those things are possible,
why not faking a war to distract an entire nation just long enough to win an
election? The script, written by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin, plays
perfect to give us this idea.
A lot of the comedy comes from one of the best Dustin Hoffman performances I
have seen. His Motss knows exactly what to do to fool an audience, but at
other times he misses a certain wisdom to realize what consequences some of
his actions might have. Conrad Brean is the cool guy, a walking mystery, and
De Niro is the perfect actor to play him. Between these great two actors
Heche is able to come close to their level in one of her better
performances. You will also recognize Willie Nelson who helps Motts with
creating a heroic song, Kirsten Dunst who's an American actress who plays an
Albanian girl raped by terrorists, William H. Macy as an CIA Agent, and
Woody Harrelson as the hero left behind enemy lines.
Together with 'Rain Man' this is director Barry Levinson's best film.