Movie Review: Wag the Dog

Wag the Dog

Made in 1998, Wag the Dog was considered very much a "ripped from the headlines" story. In the wake of the sexual scandals in the White House, a movie featuring an incumbent president about to be brought down by sexual misconduct could almost have billed itself as being "based on a true story". It isn't. At least, I don't think it was...

In Wag the Dog, it's two weeks before the presidential election, and the race is a close one. When certain members of the White House staff learn that a young girl is about to go public with accusations against the president, Presidential Aid Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) wastes no time in bringing in Conrad Brean (Robert DeNiro), a man with a reputation of being able to spin almost anything in a positive light. Brean gets the details, and then says he can get the damaging news off the front page within twenty-four hours. When Ames retorts, "It would take a war to do that!" Brean smiles and announces that that's just what he's got planned. Of course, the two can't engineer a real war. But they can make the public think there's a real one, which is all that really counts. Enter Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), an award-winning Hollywood movie producer. With his crew of creative minds (including Denis Leary and a very funny Willie Nelson), Motss has war film on every TV station in the country within 48 hours. And sure enough, the news about the sexual pecadillo all but disappears in the deluge of war stories. It doesn't take long before the CIA gets wind of the subterfuge, however, and the myserious Mr. Young (William H. Macy) confronts Ames and Brean, forcing Brean to spin in yet another direction. Can they keep it up? What will happen to the president if they can't? More importantly, just how easily can the American public be fooled?

DeNiro and Hoffman are both an absolute delight to watch in this film, and Anne Heche holds her own with the two of them which is saying something. Willie Nelson is almost a caricature of himself, but it works in this movie. And the balance of an all-star supporting cast is also quite effective (Woody Harrelson is especially noteworthy). Wag the Dog is billed as a comedy, and it is a very funny movie. It would be a lot funnier, though, if it weren't so plausible.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Wag the Dog is rated R, and I have no idea why it would be. Although the subject matter is quite mature and the plot too complex for kids, I can't identify anything specifically that would earn it such a rating. I'd say Wag the Dog would provide an enjoyable evening and an interesting political lesson for anyone age 15 or so and older.