WAG THE DOG (New Line) Starring: Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Andrea Martin, Craig T. Nelson, Woody Harrelson. Screenplay: Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, based on the novel "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart. Producers: Jane Rosenthal, Barry Levinson and Robert DeNiro. Director: Barry Levinson. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, adult themes) Running Time: 95 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Here's how I know I'm watching a truly brilliant piece of socio-political satire: even as I'm laughing, I'm not sure whether I shouldn't actually be cringing in fear for my country. DR. STRANGELOVE inspired that kind of reaction, as did NETWORK and moments in M*A*S*H and BEING THERE. There have been several attempts in recent years to capture the insanity of government by media mandate -- Tim Robbin's BOB ROBERTS, Robert Altman's HBO series "Tanner '88", Michael Moore's CANADIAN BACON -- but none has come close to reaching the savage heights of WAG THE DOG. Working with a magnificent script by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, director Barry Levinson creates the kind of film which leaves you teary-eyed from laughter and slack-jawed in astonishment at its dark audacity.
The premise of WAG THE DOG feels torn from today's scandal-filled headlines. The American President (whose face is never actually shown), facing a re-election vote in a matter of weeks, is hit with accusations that he molested a young girl. Instantly, the spin machine goes into motion, as Presidential advisor Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) brings in political fixer Conrad Breen (Robert DeNiro). Breen knows that President's only chance is a distracted electorate, so he decides to manufacture an even bigger story than the allegations: a war with Albania, for reasons to be determined later. The job of creating public perception is handed to Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), who forms a team to generate every necessary image and emotion. Thus begins a countdown to election day, with the only goal to keep the American people looking the other way.
WAG THE DOG rolls out the hilarious situations with such punishing frequency that it's virtually impossible to select highlights. The "We Are the World"-style anthem created by the team's composer (Willie Nelson) drips with pop-bombast jingoism; a studio shoot of an actress (Kirsten Dunst) playing the part of an Albanian refugee turns a piece of fiction into an icon; a commercial by the President's opponent (Craig T. Nelson) makes use of Maurice Chevalier's "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" to jab the President's scandals. Some of the most subtle but scathing barbs target the media, who lap up the images provided by the President's people far too readily, riding the wave rather than bucking the tide. Like all the finest satire, WAG THE DOG is just absurd enough to be hilarious, and just plausible enough to be alarming.
The truly impressive thing about Henkin and Mamet's script is that it finds time amid all the comic pot-shots to create a genuinely fascinating character in Stanley Motss. A well-tanned big shot modeled after no-one-in-particular (Robert Evans? Don Simpson?), Motss dives into his assignment with show biz gusto and bluster, regaling all around him with war stories of previous productions and a dismissive "This is nothing" to accompany every crisis. Hoffman plays Motss as an insecure mogul determined to achieve the recognition he feels has been unfairly denied him, even though Breen continues to insist that this particular story can never become one of his war stories. It's easily Hoffman's best performance in over a decade: sly, funny, angry, self-absorbed, infuriating and absolutely delightful.
Though WAG THE DOG focuses almost entirely on the actions of the President's shadow cabinet, it's not exactly an indictment of political dirty tricks. If anything, the real villains in WAG THE DOG are the American people -- not just for accepting the phony war, but for making it necessary in the first place. The script strongly suggests that the accusations made against the President are false, but the facts of the matter are instantly irrelevant. An accusation of wrong-doing becomes the same as wrong-doing in the popular consciousness, making the manipulations of the President's team as ironic as they are necessary: the only way they can battle a lie is to create a bigger lie. WAG THE DOG is a dazzling, thought-provoking entertainment which alternately tickles you and slaps you in the face, providing a warning that it's easy to keep making fools out of us if we keep making it so easy.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 dog tales: 10.
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