wag the dog movie review

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So, why did we invade Grenada? A terrorist bomb killed all those Marines in Beirut, the White House was taking flak, and suddenly our Marines were landing on a Caribbean island few people had heard of, everybody was tying yellow ribbons 'round old oak trees, and Clint Eastwood was making the movie. The Grenadan invasion, I have read, produced more decorations than combatants. By the time it was over, Ronald Reagan's presidency had proven the republic could still flex its muscle--we could take out a Caribbean Marxist regime at will, Cuba notwithstanding.

Barry Levinson's "Wag the Dog" cites Grenada as an example of how easy it is to whip up patriotic frenzy, and how dubious the motives sometimes are. The movie is a satire that contains just enough realistic ballast to be teasingly plausible; like " Dr. Strangelove ," it makes you laugh, and then it makes you wonder. Just today, I read a Strangelovian article revealing that some of Russian's nuclear missiles, still aimed at the United States, have gone unattended because their guards were denied bonus rations of 4 pounds of sausage a month. It is getting harder and harder for satire to stay ahead of reality.

In the movie, a U.S. president is accused of luring an underage "Firefly Girl" into an anteroom of the Oval Office, and there presenting her with opportunities no Firefly Girl should anticipate from her commander in chief. A presidential election is weeks away, the opposition candidate starts using "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" in his TV ads, and White House aide Winifred Ames ( Anne Heche ) leads a spin doctor named Conrad Brean ( Robert De Niro ) into bunkers far beneath the White House for an emergency session.

Brean, a Mr. Fixit who has masterminded a lot of shady scenarios, has a motto: "To change the story, change the lead." To distract the press from the Firefly Girl scandal, he advises extending a presidential trip to Asia, while issuing official denials that the new B-3 bomber is being activated ahead of schedule. "But there is no B-3 bomber," he's told.

"Perfect! Deny it even exists!" Meanwhile, he cooks up a phony international crisis with Albania.

Why Albania? Nobody is sure where it is, nobody cares, and you can't get any news out of it. Nobody can even think of any Albanians except--maybe the Belushi brothers? To produce the graphic look and feel of the war, Brean flies to Hollywood and enlists the services of a producer named Stanley Motss ( Dustin Hoffman ), who is hard to convince. He wants proof that Brean has a direct line to the White House. He gets it. As they watch a live briefing by a presidential spokesman, Brean dictates into a cell phone and the spokesman repeats, word for word, what he hears on his earpiece. (I was reminded of the line in " Broadcast News ": "Goes in here, comes out there.") Motss assembles the pieces for a media blitz. As spokesmen warn of Albanian terrorists skulking south from Canada with "suitcase bombs," Motss supervises the design of a logo for use on the news channels, hires Willie Nelson to write the song that will become the conflict's "spontaneous" anthem, and fakes news footage of a hapless Albanian girl ( Kirsten Dunst ) fleeing from rapists with her kitten. (Dunst is an American actress, and the kitten, before it is created with special effects, is a bag of Tostados.) But what about a martyr? Motss cooks up "good old Shoe," Sgt. William Schumann ( Woody Harrelson ), who is allegedly rescued from the hands of the Albanians to be flown back for a hero's welcome. Shoe inspires a shtick, too: Kids start lobbing their old gym shoes over power lines, and throwing them onto the court during basketball games, as a spontaneous display of patriotism.

It's creepy how this material is absurd and convincing at the same time. Levinson, working from a smart, talky script by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin , based on the book "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart, deconstructs the media blitz that accompanies any modern international crisis. Even when a conflict is real and necessary (the Gulf War, for example), the packaging of them is invariably shallow and unquestioning; like sportswriters, war correspondents abandon any pretense of objectivity and detachment, and cheerfully root for our side.

For Hoffman, this is the best performance in some time, inspired, it is said, by producer Robert Evans . (In power and influence, however, Motss seems more like Ray Stark .) Like a lot of Hollywood power brokers, Hoffman's Motss combines intelligence with insecurity and insincerity, and frets because he won't get "credit" for his secret manipulations.

De Niro's Brean, on the other hand, is a creature born to live in shadow, and De Niro plays him with the poker-faced plausibility of real spin doctors, who tell lies as a professional specialty. Their conversations are crafted by Mamet as a verbal ballet between two men who love the jargon of their crafts.

"Why does a dog wag its tail?" Brean asks at one point. "Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog." In the Breanian universe, the tail is smarter, and we, dear readers, are invited to be the dogs.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Wag the Dog (1998)

Rated R For Language

Dustin Hoffman as Stanley Motss

Robert De Niro as Conrad Brean

Anne Heche as Winifred Ames

Woody Harrelson as Sgt. William Schumann

Denis Leary as Fad King

Willie Nelson as Johnny Green

Andrea Martin as Liz Butsky

Directed by

• Barry Levinson
• David Mamet
• Hilary Henkin

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Wag the Dog Reviews

The idea sags near the end, but for some time, it is right on.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 19, 2023

...I’ll simply let the movie explain itself and recommend it highly for anyone interested in satirical filmmaking.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 7, 2023

...a vitriolic comedy/satire that venomously assesses the lack of morality in the modern media and politics...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 9, 2021

Perhaps what's so surprising about 1997's Wag the Dog is how the political satire feels so realistic over twenty years following its theatrical release.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 19, 2020

...a fairly static drama that contains few elements worth connecting to or wholeheartedly embracing...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 7, 2019

If anything, in the years since its release, the worlds of politics, entertainment, and news media have grown even more intertwined in which narratives are carefully controlled and expectations are minimal.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2018

'Wag the Dog,' a movie that's fun to see more than once, comes across as a bitingly funny satire of politics, the media and show business.

Full Review | Sep 25, 2011

Entertaining, creepily resonant political comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2010

Smart political satire from director Barry Levinson.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2009

Anyone who would be inherently interested in this kind of sendup is unlikely to be surprised by anything in this film -- overall it feels like a trifle, if an entertaining one.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 30, 2009

Hilary Henkin and David Mamet's script is gleefully hyperbolic without ever straying from its political target.

Twisty and flat-out hilarious.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 29, 2009

Feels tossed-off and casual in the best way.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 24, 2007

Strong performances abound in the film.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 30, 2006

I doubt it will age as well as Network, but it is close to that realm of brilliance.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 16, 2006

Lazily assembled by director Levinson, it slides into a series of soft, extended skits on engineering a media war, not helped by several badly handled leaps in the story.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2006

Beyond a couple of hilarious zingers, its impact feels smug and minor.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Brilliantly scripted and acted to the point where even Barry Levinson's typically uninspired direction doesn't matter.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 17, 2005

Levinson has created a surprising quickie that satirically strikes out at our political system, the media (easy target) and the whole business of image versus reality.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Apr 9, 2005

• New Line Cinema

Summary Wickedly fictional with historical overtones truer than many care to admit, Wag The Dog examines the blurred lines between politics, the media and show business.  (New Line Productions)

Directed By : Barry Levinson

Written By : Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin, David Mamet

Wag the Dog

Where to watch.

Dustin Hoffman

Stanley motss.

Robert De Niro

Conrad brean.

Winifred Ames

Woody Harrelson

Sgt. william schumann.

Denis Leary

Willie Nelson

Johnny dean.

Andrea Martin

Michael belson.

Suzanne Cryer

John Michael Higgins

Suzie Plakson

Kirsten Dunst

Jason cottle.

David Koechner

Harland Williams

Pet wrangler, sean masterson, bob richardson.

William H. Macy

Bernard hocke, jenna byrne, maurice woods, kid with shoes, critic reviews.

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new video loaded: Critics' Picks: 'Wag the Dog'

Critics’ Picks

Critics' picks: 'wag the dog', a. o. scott reviews barry levinson's 1997 film about a washington fixer and a hollywood producer who band together to create a politically expedient but entirely fictional war..

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Wag the Dog (United States, 1997)

"Why does a dog wag its tail? Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog."

Hollywood and Presidential politics - perfect together. Anyone who doubts this simple maxim will face a challenge to their opinion when they see Wag the Dog , the hilarious new satire from director Barry Levinson. For, although this film is one of the funniest comedies of the year, it also carries a serious, thought-provoking message about the relationship between politics and mass-market entertainment. This is one of Levinson's best films, and the screenplay, co-penned by noted writer David Mamet (along with Hilary Henkin), is brilliantly on-target.

The premise is relatively simple. Only two weeks before election day, a sitting president is hit by a sex scandal. A brief dalliance with a Firefly Girl becomes public knowledge, and now his 17% lead is about to plummet. Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), one of the President's top aides, calls in spin doctor extraordinary, Conrad Bream (Robert De Niro). Conrad goes to work immediately, deciding that the best way to get the public's mind off the Firefly Girl is to give them something bigger to think about. "Change the story, change the lead" is his motto, so he decides to manufacture a war against Albania. Why Albania? Because the name sounds sinister and no one in the United States knows anything about the country.

Conrad decides that he and Winifred can't do it alone. They need help, so they go to big-time Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman). He has never won an Academy Award, but he's more than willing to help stage the war. They'll need slogans, a theme song, merchandising links, and sympathetic characters. Soon, carefully-controlled leaks to the press make it to the evening news, and everyone is reporting about the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Albania, even though no troops have been moved and no shots have been fired. Actual battles don't matter, however, because, if it's on television, it must be real.

The ones wagging the dog are clearly the spin doctors: Conrad, Stanley, and Winifred. But who is the dog? The media, who eagerly lap up every drop of milk spilled by the White House press staff? The American public, ever-eager for the latest made-for-television war/entertainment? The answer is likely both. And, while Levinson and Mamet are clearly stretching reality beyond the bounds of credibility for the purposes of this satire, there's more than a kernel of truth in the core theme. Political campaigns are often run like Hollywood motion pictures. Television is critical to a candidate's success. And the media loves a good war - just look at the current frenzy that's occurring as hostilities with Iraq rise towards a crescendo.

Levinson directs Wag the Dog with a sure hand. The director has a spotty resume - he has been responsible for winners like Tin Men and Rain Man (also with Hoffman) and losers like Toys . This time around, he's in complete control of the material. Meanwhile, Mamet has honed his pen to its sharpest to systematically slice apart targets ranging from television news reporting methods to the political process. While doing so, he has come up with some innovative interpretations of various recent historical events. For example, who recalls how soon after the Beirut disaster the United States "invaded" Grenada?

The actors all play their roles with zeal. De Niro, getting a chance to essay a character who's not a gangster or a heavy, is delightful, and it's easy to believe that Conrad is the best in the business. If I needed a spin doctor, he'd be first on my list. Hoffman matches him scene for scene as the sleazy-but-ambitious producer. The actor almost never turns in a bad performance, but this is his best in several years, eclipsing what he did in Mamet's American Buffalo . Anne Heche, who has been in the news for her personal life, is capable as the proverbial dumb blond. Woody Harrelson is wonderfully thick doing his best Billy Bob Thornton impression. Cameos include Kirsten Dunst as an actress hired to play an Albanian refugee, William H. Macy as CIA agent Young, and Craig T. Nelson as Senator John Neal, the President's challenger. It is also worth noting that Levinson got around the tricky task of casting the President by never showing his face. This is entirely appropriate, since everything we learn about the man is a shadowy, insubstantial fabrication.

To avoid making Wag the Dog sound too much like an intellectual challenge, let me make this clarification: the movie is intelligent, but it's also a lot of fun. This is the kind of film that you can laugh and think your way through. I look forward to seeing Wag the Dog another time, and I think I'll enjoy it as much, if not more. No matter what your political persuasion is, or how cynically you regard the goings-on in Washington, you will be entertained. Let's just hope Wag the Dog isn't too close to the mark in its depiction of specific events.

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Wag the Dog

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Reviews in chronological order (Total 1 review)

Unknownusers, submitted by dr. alan taylor on 14/12/2004 12:58.

14 December 2004 12:58PM

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Movie Review

Wag the dog.

US Release Date: 12-25-1997

Directed by: Barry Levinson

Starring ▸ ▾

• Dustin Hoffman ,  as
• Stanley Motss
• Robert De Niro ,  as
• Conrad Brean
• Anne Heche ,  as
• Winifred Ames
• Denis Leary ,  as
• Willie Nelson ,  as
• Johnny Dean
• Andrea Martin ,  as
• Kirsten Dunst ,  as
• William H. Macy ,  as
• CIA Agent Charles Young
• John Michael Higgins ,  as
• Suzie Plakson ,  as
• Woody Harrelson ,  as
• Sergeant William Schumann
• Michael Belson ,  as
• Suzanne Cryer ,  as
• Jason Cottle ,  as
• David Koechner as

Hoffman, Heche and Deniro in Wag the Dog.

Wag the Dog is an insightful look at how the government and media can be manipulative by feeding a population whatever information they want.  With plenty of echoes of George Orwell's 1984, Wag the Dog demonstrates that information/propaganda is more powerful than any weapon.  It has lots to say about what can go on behind the political scenes, and suggests that we think twice about everything we hear from the news.

With less than two weeks before an election, a Firefly Girl (Girl Scout) comes forward with the story that The President of the United States took her into his private office and sexually assaulted her.   With this story comes the knowledge that the president will obviously not be re-elected.  Enter the smirking fixer (De Niro) who decides that the only possible way to get past this is to distract the voters with a war.

He drops a few lines to the press denying there is a new bomber.  "There is no B-3 bomber. I don't know how these rumors get started!"  He has a General sent to an emergency meeting.  He denies any knowledge of Albania having a nuclear program.  The sheep in the press immediately buy it all and the story of the possibility of war with Albania pushes the girl's story to the second page. 

To create something big and fake the fixer and his assistant (Heche) turn to, where else, Hollywood.  A movie producer (Hoffman) decides to produce the war for them.   He calls in a creative team to market the war with merchandising, fads, theme songs and a fake clip of a girl escaping a war ravaged Albanian village with her cat.  Actually it is Kirsten Dunst running in front of a green screen with a bag of Tostitos. 

Wag the Dog is funny from start to finish.  De Niro is great as the slicker than snot spin doctor lying to everyone around him.  Hoffman steals every scene with a relatable story for every problem they encounter.  "Fuck the world. Try a ten a.m. script meeting, coked to the gills, no sleep and you haven't even read the treatment."  Woody Harrelson is likewise good in a small role as a convict being made up to be a war hero.

As good as Wag the Dog is, it has not gained the recognition it deserved.  This has more to do what happened in real life than it does with the quality of the film.  The novel, "American Hero", by Larry Beinhart specifically names George H Bush as president and Desert Storm as the war in question.  The film never states the President's political party but Heche has this line that she screams at Hoffman, "What do we do now, liberal, affirmative action, shithead, peacenik commie fuck?"

The film makers may have intended this film to question the Bush administration but it backfired once the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.  The details of Bill Clinton's and Lewinsky's sexual encounters, his subsequent lie and the impeachment proceedings dominated the news.  With his Presidential legacy threatened, Clinton ordered the bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that was not producing nerve gas as was originally reported, and a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, that turned out to be nothing more than some huts.  Clinton then had the United States military lead a NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo, which is not even a member of NATO, without getting the approval of the United Nations Security Council, something Democrats always insisted Bush get. The distraction worked as news coverage of the bombings pushed the Lewinsky story to the back of the papers.   

Wag the Dog may forever be associated with Clinton as it demonstrates just how horribly realistic something ridiculous can actually be.   Even if Clinton's decisions were just wildly coincidental, it still demonstrates how the government and media can influence the population through information.  When this movie was released I am sure people thought how farfetched it all seemed.  After Lewinskygate and the subsequent war, it took on a whole new life.

Dustin Hoffman steals Wag the Dog .

Eric, I agree with you that this is a very funny movie and that Dustin Hoffman steals every scene he appears in. However, I don't think it goes quite far enough in its satire. Having the spin doctors only fake the war instead of actually having one, undercuts the story by not making it believable enough. At times the movie pokes fun at modern technology, but it's that same modern technology that makes what they're doing impossible to pull off, even in 1997. Global communication would quickly disprove any claims that there was a war when there wasn't one. Were the writers afraid a real war couldn't be made funny enough?

The hints and denials of war are fine and I can believe the press would gobble them up, but the press would also immediately follow up these stories by sending reporters to Albania where they would quickly see that there is no war. This movie acts as if the press only gets its information from the government or takes what it is given without digging up any news on its own. And what about the cast and crew who make the fakes news footage featuring Kirsten Dunst? Are you telling me that none of them who saw the film they were making being used as real footage, told anyone? And what about the protesters to the war? Where are they? And, if, as it is hinted, the current administration is Conservative, then why is the Liberal Media backing him to the hilt? Wouldn't they be all over him about the Firefly girl and against his war?

Hoffman definitely gets the funniest part. Eric, you mentioned his best line, but he has many others. Every time a problem seems insurmountable, he comes up with something from his career that was harder. "During the filming of 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,' three of the horsemen died two weeks before the ending of principle photography. This is nothing, this is nothing." Reportedly he is based on famed Hollywood Producer Robert Evans, although Hoffman has never confirmed this, but the real Evans is said to have declared, "I'm magnificent in this film!"

While many of the ideas here are as current today as they were when this movie was made, the technology dates it. I remember seeing this in the theater and being suitably impressed when they are able to use a cell phone to contact the Press Secretary in the middle of a press conference and get him to say a line. Likewise, the use of CGI for Kirsten Dunst's scene was cutting edge at the time, but is just taken for granted now.

Perhaps it's because I'd seen this movie before that I focused on the unanswered questions during this viewing. I still enjoyed it this second time around, but because I knew what was going to happen, I found myself questioning things more. There are still some very funny parts and some great performances, but it's not quite as insightful as you imply Eric. It should have gone further.

Kirsten Dunst and Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog .

Wag the Dog is a funny satire of the media and politics. In style, theme and pacing it reminded me of something Frank Capra would have done back in the 1930s. It has just enough reality in it to make its point, but is also quite far fetched in its execution. I’m not suggesting that personal scandals haven’t at times motivated the decisions of sitting presidents but the behind the scenes manipulations going on here are certainly exaggerated.

I get annoyed by the number of individuals I meet that don’t believe we ever went to the moon. They actually think the moon landing was filmed on a soundstage like the battle scene with Kirsten Dunst in this movie. Call me gullible if you like but I don’t believe for a second that a lie of this magnitude could be kept secret for long.

I agree with you Scott that the movie would have worked better if they had actually started a war in Albania, like William Randolph Hearst did with the Spanish American War more than a century ago. OK Hearst didn’t actually start that war but his articles against Spain certainly influenced the American public’s attitude in accepting the war.

The cast is uniformly great although I must join the chorus in singling out Hoffman for his gleeful, never-say-die movie producer. He certainly has Robert Evans’ hairstyle and over-sized ego down pat. In one scene he wants the President of the United States to wait on the phone while he finishes telling an anecdote from his career.

I enjoyed Willie Nelson. The scene where he leads a chorus of singers in a “We Are the World” type anthem hits the bull’s eye as does the forlorn blues song about a shoe. These scenes provide the movie with some of its sharpest satire.

Wag the Dog wants us to think that everything we see in the news has been altered or tampered with. I think that constant suspicion is just as naïve as innocently believing everything we are told. The truth lies somewhere in between.  

Photos © Copyright New Line Cinema (1997)

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Wag the dog.

1997 Directed by Barry Levinson

A comedy about truth, justice and other special effects.

During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President's adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.

Dustin Hoffman Robert De Niro Anne Heche Woody Harrelson Denis Leary Willie Nelson Andrea Martin Kirsten Dunst William H. Macy David Koechner Michael Belson Suzanne Cryer John Michael Higgins Suzie Plakson Jason Cottle Harland Williams Sean Masterson Bernard Hocke Jenna Byrne Maurice Woods Roebuck 'Pops' Staples Phil Morris Chris Ellis Ed Morgan J. Patrick McCormack Jennifer Manley Edrie Warner Richard Lawson Drena De Niro Show All… Alberto Vazquez Stephanie Kemp Jack Esformes John Cho Michael Reid Davis Brant Cotton Kenneth Kern Michelle Levinson Ron McCoy Derek Morgan Garry R. Roleder Merle Haggard Jim Belushi George Gaynes Rick Scarry Cliff B. Howard Furley Lumpkin Sean Fenton Nikki Crawford John Franklin Kevin Furlong Lu Elrod Michael Villani Shirley Prestia Warren Wilson Terry Anzur Melissa Gardner Giselle Fernández Christine Devine Richard Saxton Geoffrey Blake Jerry Levine Jack Shearer Emmett Miller Bill Handel Anais Afshan Hope Garber Gina Menza Maggie Mellin Tom Murray Ralph Tabakin Marguerite Moreau Jay Leno Nicole Avant Wendy Lou Halvorsen Tom Bähler Anthony Holiday Allen Carter Brad Kalas Carmen Carter Billy Trudel Lance Eaton Mark Vieha Karen Geraghty Julia Waters James Gilstrap Oren Waters Jennifer Gross Maxine Waters Willard Craig T. Nelson Barry Levinson Robert Richardson Laura Bennecke Greg Bronson Phillip V. Caruso Sean Ireland Glendon Rich Guy Richardson Robert Sedona Randy Springer Chelsea Talbott Paul Webster

Director Director

Barry Levinson

Producers Producers

Robert De Niro Barry Levinson Jane Rosenthal Eric McLeod Joe Fineman Carla Fry Bonnie Weis Laurie Kaye

Writers Writers

Hilary Henkin David Mamet

Original Writer Original Writer

Larry Beinhart

Casting Casting

Ellen Chenoweth Debra Zane

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Robert Richardson

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Amy Sayres Christopher Swartout

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Ken Arlidge

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Ezra Swerdlow Michael De Luca Claire Rudnick Polstein

Lighting Lighting

Roger Awad Halo Amrani Fredrick W. Marx III Reinhart Peschke Renan Galindo Alexandre Naufel Russell Steen

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Martin Schaer David Norris

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Ken Arlidge Daryl Studebaker

Production Design Production Design

Wynn Thomas

Art Direction Art Direction

Mark Worthington Christopher Tandon

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Robert Greenfield Scott W. Leslie Jeff Markwith Jim McDermott Mark W. Pallatt John Slatsky James R. Shumaker Brent Smith

Special Effects Special Effects

Jim Hanson Dennis King Ronald W. Mathews

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Mike Sabga Krystyna Demkowicz

Composer Composer

Mark Knopfler

Sound Sound

Tim Holland Steve Cantamessa Lora Hirschberg Tom Johnson J.R. Grubbs John Roesch Jana Vance Dennie Thorpe Tony Eckert Mary Helen Leasman Frank 'Pepe' Merel Al Nelson Michael Silvers Mark Weingarten David Abrahamsen Mark Burton Sean England

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Daniel C. Striepeke Ilona Herman Mark Landon Peter Montagna Elaine L. Offers

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Ilona Herman Michael White Melissa Yonkey Hazel Catmull Kathrine Gordon

New Line Cinema Tribeca Productions Baltimore Pictures Punch Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

Albanian English

Releases by Date

Theatrical limited, 25 dec 1997, 05 mar 1998, 25 mar 1998, 10 apr 1998, 23 apr 1998, 29 apr 1998, 08 may 1998, 16 jul 1998, 31 aug 1998, 12 sep 1998, 06 jun 2003, releases by country.

• Theatrical M https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/wag-dog
• Theatrical 12+
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 12

Netherlands

• Theatrical AL
• TV AL Nederland 1
• Theatrical M/12

Russian Federation

• Theatrical 16+

South Korea

• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical limited R

97 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by cait ★★★ 5

still in disbelief that the president in wag the dog distracts from his affair by starting a fake war in albania and then a year later bill clinton distracts from his affair by starting a real war in iraq... satire is dead

Review by Dakota Joaquin ★★★★

Bill Clinton watched this movie and thought “holy fuck that’s a good idea!”

Review by Kunga Sagar ★★★½

Calling this movie prophetic is one thing, calling it a full on horror disguised as a buddy comedy is another. I’m firmly in the latter category, as I was frankly disturbed by the time I completed this Barry Levinson picture. Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro riffing David Mamet dialogue off of each other is a recipe for an offbeat banger. Hoffman is channeling the late Robert Evans here, while De Niro is trying to be anything but a hard ass mobster. Both electrify the screen as they always have in this novelty of the mid to late 90s. 

Levinson shoots this dry, cynical script like Rain Man, although without Hans Zimmer’s heartwarming score it becomes more like a cousin…

Review by Will ★★★½

Dustin Hoffman’s delivery is so perfect. I can’t really think of many other actors who can deliver dialogue like he can. His comedic timing is so effortless and it’s such a joy to watch him perform.

Review by bulletproofQpid ★★★★★

"Why Albania?" "Why not?" "What have they done to us?" "What have they done FOR us? What do you know about them?" "Nothing." "See? They keep to themselves. Shifty. Untrustable."

That's the difference between the Clinton years and the Trump years - we thought that it was possible that we were getting a bunch of bullshit from Bill, but we couldn't really be sure. Trump is completely incapable of saying anything that isn't complete bullshit.

Probably my favorite of all of Levinson's films...

Review by chavel ★★★★½ 6

What’s enduring about Wag the Dog is its satiric slant on presidential image buffering, with spin doctor Robert DeNiro as Conrad Brean employing Hollywood producer Dustin Hoffman as a brassy, silver pompadour Robert Evans-type to construct a phony war as a decoy strategy after the president is accused of sexual misconduct with a Firefly girl. We never see the President head-on, but we hear his audio and get enough of a sense what a phony gasbag he is, though in 1997 it was seen as obscene satire because none of us thought a President that imbecilic could ever take Oval Office.

The central hook is that a country’s citizens only need the ballast of one video or photographic image in…

Review by Drew Clark ★★★★

“What’d the TV ever do to you?”  “Ruin the electoral process” 

Review by Justin Peterson ★★★★½ 5

(Adam & Justin's Letterboxd Movie Club)

Just think about how the true power of politics all comes down to only the perception of truth.

"ONE video of ONE bomb Mr. Motts, the American people bought that war. War is show business - that's why we're here."

Wow, what a timely movie to revisit this election year. Wag the Dog is a scary but 'potentially' realistic vision of how mass media can be used to manipulate people. I was blown away the first time I saw the film, and watching it now after having gone to college for Mass Communications & Political Science in addition to accumulating a wealth of career experience, provides a whole new perspective on it. And while I remembered…

Review by Matthew Christman ★★★

Haven't watch this in a long time, and the thing that stands out is just how much of a Clinton-era curio it is. The halcyon days when people really thought they were living at the End of History, and their biggest concern was that nothing was Real anymore. Since then, we've been living hip deep in the Real, while at the same time trying to keep it at arm's length with the Internet. As a result, Wag feels about as relevant as a silent movie about the dangers of Jazz music. Hoffman is still funny, though. Also: there IS an Oscar for Best Producer: who the hell do you think accepts the Best Picture award?

Review by Silent J ★★★★ 10

It's like what Argo would have looked as a comedy. Like Argo, the writing and cast is very impressive and the story feels relevant. Unlike Argo, this is very funny and very underrated.

Review by Danzel Vaughn ★★★★ 4

absurd! my goverment would never go through this much trouble to lie to me and no hollywood producer is this insufferable or self centered! 4 stars!

Review by Julia Grohlo🇨🇦 🇻🇳 ★★★★ 5

That's a good one lol , The work makes a mockery of current affairs, or how to talk about the manipulation of public opinion more effectively than with a very dark humor and a satirical comedy of the funniest kind goes into a huge delirium of excess making fun of politics, journalists and gullible people who believe anything and everything on TV and Barry Levinson's troll is to play with your mind by being lost in not knowing what is true or not in the most cynical way possible.

Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro are absolutely terrific as manipulative geniuses with the intertwined roles of the CIA, the president's advisors and the director's cartoonishly Hollywood style, leading to a…

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Metacritic reviews

Wag the dog.

• 90 Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan A gloriously cynical black comedy that functions as a wicked smart satire on the interlocking worlds of politics and show business, Wag the Dog confirms every awful thought you've ever had about media manipulation and the gullibility of the American public. And it has a great deal of fun doing it.
• 90 Dallas Observer Dallas Observer Director Barry Levinson has given this swift, sure-footed film a matter-of-fact, improvisational look and feel. To appreciate its brisk, confident, wild comedy, all you need is a funny bone and a BS meter.
• 80 The A.V. Club Nathan Rabin The A.V. Club Nathan Rabin Wag The Dog is an oft-hilarious, witty, scathing satire that represents four gifted if uneven artists (De Niro, Hoffman, Levinson, and Mamet) at the top of their respective games.
• 80 Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum This is hilarious, deadly stuff, sparked by the cynical gusto of the two leads as well as the fascinating technical display of how TV "documentary evidence" can be digitally manufactured inside a studio.
• 75 San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle Levinson's sure touch keeps audiences smiling and manages to maintain an aura of good nature in a film that, at heart, offers a caustic, almost bitter vision of American institutions and contemporary politics.
• 75 San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego It's a testament to what happens when all the right ingredients come together. Wag the Dog is the best political satire in years.
• 75 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen WAG the Dog is a cozy political satire, the warm-and-fuzzy kind that is always entertaining yet never disturbing.
• 75 Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt Barry Levinson's dark comedy is sly, funny, and unnerving.
• 60 Salon Andrew O'Hehir Salon Andrew O'Hehir Wag the Dog is such a crisply delivered political satire, so packed full of wickedly amusing details and expertly modulated performances and with its heart so obviously in the right place that I really, truly wish I could tell you it was also a good movie.
• 60 Empire Empire Written in part by David Mamet, Wag The Dog is a lovely idea, with credibility buoyed by its incredible timeliness. But, content with its initial premise, the movie lacks the necessary bite to develop the satire further, to the point where it's difficult to spot whether Washington or Hollywood is the target.
• See all 22 reviews on Metacritic.com
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Wag The Dog Review

13 Mar 1998

Wag The Dog

The President Of The United States is found having a quick shag so a spin doctor stages a war to divert attention from the Prez's zipper. At the time of writing, Bill Clinton's (alleged) dalliance with Monica Lewinsky is practically old news as he seeks to flex his political muscles in the direction of Saddam Hussein. Biting satire or frightening prescience? Barry Levinson's low-budget comedy is a bit of both but less than the sum of these parts.

When the leader of the free world is caught with his hand up a girl guide's uniform, things do not look well for the political machine that espouses life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The ensuing sex-gate scandal could spell the end for the Mr. President in the forthcoming election unless spin doctor Ronnie Brean (De Niro) can run some interference. And who better at fooling the public than Hollywood? Bringing White House aide Heche along for the ride, Ronnie enlists the help of movie producer Stan Motss (Hoffman). Their plan? To fabricate a war. Their proposed target? Albania . . .

Written in part by David Mamet, Wag The Dog is a lovely idea, with credibility buoyed by its incredible timeliness. But, content with its initial premise, the movie lacks the necessary bite to develop the satire further, to the point where it's difficult to spot whether Washington or Hollywood is the target. Maybe the point is that they're now more or less one and the same, but the film seems more concerned with its characters than what they have to say.

This is another of Levinson's back to basics productions (see also Jimmy Hollywood) and the fact remains that despite his Baltimore movies (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon), he is simply not a personal filmmaker. His true talent lies in eliciting top performances from well cast actors. Thus, we have De Niro not mugging in a comedy, Heche as the perfect audience touchstone and Hoffman, seldom better in a turn that is reputedly his take on Uberproducer Robert Evans. Great acting, great filmmaking, half-realised idea - but nonetheless entertaining.

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After the allegations that Bill Clinton showed his biological weapon to White House employee Monica Lewinsky, Barry Levinson's Wag The Dog has received much more Stateside publicity than it probably deserves. The film's war-covers-up-sex-scandal storyline, along with Hoffman's practical impersonation of legendary producer Robert Evans (Chinatown, Marathon Man), are just a little too close to reality.

Shot in pseudo-documentary style, this film is fast-paced, smart, incredibly clever and occasionally very funny. It's based on a simple idea: that political spin can inspire fervent American patriotism; that using this blinding love of the USA (and the right media propaganda) can make the public believe anything. So when the President is accused of becoming too personal with a young girl, the faceless spin-doctors wheel out implausible slices of cunning: fly important generals up to Boeing; wake the Albanian desk at the CIA, then deny that there is an Albanian situation; and deny sending B-3 Stealth Bombers to Europe. It's all a believable lie.

The three main characters work well together as they weave the tangled web. De Niro is laconic and all-knowing. ("Remember the Gulf: 1,500 missions a day; but all we saw was one shot of a laser-guided bomb falling down a chimney. I was there when we filmed it - a one-tenth scale model on a Hollywood backlot.") Lining up with him are Hoffman, who's hilarious as the producer for whom any problem (including an important fatality) is merely an excuse for an anecdote; and Anne Heche, the rational presidential aide and questioner, who knows their plot is verging on insanity. Harrelson (as a handy POW), William H Macy (a suspicious CIA man) and Denis Leary (a merchandising and image promoter) have to be content with small roles.

Notable highlights include a staging of a We Are The World-type patriotic song which is promptly dumped in favour of a more suitable old-style ballad entitled Old Shoe, and some great throwaway lines, particularly from De Niro.

In many ways, Wag The Dog is a celebration of what Hollywood is capable of; the notion that the film industry can create a believable war and win over the entire country by showing it on TV. But the idea is less fulfilling than the reality, and the film falls down, particularly in the last third, when the idea grows stale and Levinson realises that he's boxed himself into a tight corner and only an extensive burst of farcical clichés can release him.

The end result is that, although Wag The Dog is clever, funny and satirical, it fails to deliver everything that you hoped it would, and ultimately leaves you feeling empty.

Smart but not as smart as it thinks it is. Nevertheless, it's still entertaining, funny and clever, and worth catching for some great performances from De Niro and Hoffman, plus some wonderful what-if-this-is-really-true moments.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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Wag the Dog

1998, r, 105 min. directed by barry levinson. starring robert de niro, dustin hoffman, kirsten dunst, willie nelson, anne heche, denis leary., reviewed by marjorie baumgarten , fri., jan. 9, 1998.

Sharp scripting, note-perfect performances, and nimble direction and technical execution combine to make Wag the Dog one of the wittiest and most mordant political satires to come along in quite some time. This quickly shot, relatively small-budget (considering the fact that it features two of the world's top movie actors) film is a cynic's delight, a trenchant and timely social comedy that frequently recalls the best of Dr. Strangelove. It takes as its premise the modern-day bastardization of politics, show business, and the media, which have all merged into one indistinguishable generator of news events and photo ops. Wag the Dog's unholy alliance begins when the United States president, 11 days before he's up for re-election, is accused of making improper advances to a young Firefly girl during her tour the White House. In no time flat, his opponent hits the airwaves with political ads that trumpet the song, “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” A fretful presidential assistant, Winifred Ames (Heche), calls professional political fixer Conrad Brean (De Niro) to a summit deep in the bowels of the Washington power center, whereupon Mr. Fixit decides that what the situation requires is the distraction of a good-old-fashioned war effort. Not a real war necessarily, just the appearance of one. Off to California go the odd couple of the prim and uptight Ames and the detached and rumpled Brean to enlist the help of top Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Hoffman), a vain Tinseltown caricature who's thrilled to have his talents appreciated at last. Things escalate from there as Motss calls in his arsenal of image wranglers who include a songwriter played by Willie Nelson to pen a “spontaneous” We Are the World”-type anthem, the advertising Fad King (Leary), and a whole studio full of computer-generated video effects that are capable of fabricating a war in Albania from the reality of a girl holding a Tostitos bag in Burbank. Everyone involved in this production is in peak form. Hoffman and De Niro both turn in some of their best work in ages, once again playing off Motss' vanity and need for recognition against Brean's shadow-skulking self-effacement, all the while each of them appreciating the other as consummate professionals. Heche holds her own in the presence of such notable company, and Harrelson is utterly hilarious as an eleventh-hour loose cannon. A plotline that involves a suspicious government agent played by William H. Macy sputters without much focus but events move along at a rapid enough clip that the duff moments barely have time to register. The script was adapted from Larry Beinhart's novel American Hero by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet. As a cautionary tale, Wag the Dog may find itself somewhat in the position of preaching to the converted, but the pews will radiate with the sounds of laughter.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

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Wag the Dog , Barry Levinson , Robert De Niro , Dustin Hoffman , Kirsten Dunst , Willie Nelson , Anne Heche , Denis Leary

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Wag the dog.

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The Political Satire Film “Wag the Dog” Essay (Movie Review)

Introduction, plot summary, main character.

Wathe g the Dog is a 1997 film produced by Barry Levinson starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman (Ebert, 1998). It co-starred Denis Leary, Anne Heche, and William Macy.

The film focuses on a Washington spin-doctor who hires a film producer to develop a false war in order to direct people’s attention from a sex scandal involving the president (Ebert, 1998).

The movie was adapted from the storyline of the book American Hero written by Larry Beinhart (Wilson, 1998). It was produced during a period when the president of America (Bill Clinton) was involved in a sex scandal.

The film starts with an anonymous president of the US soliciting sexual favors from an underage girl in a private room. This incident takes place two weeks before an election in which the president is seeking reelection (Wilson, 1998).

Winifred Ames, the president’s consultant advises him to seek help from a renowned spin-doctor and political specialist, Conrad Brean. To divert the public’s attention from the sex scandal, spin-doctor Brean is asked to do something (Wilson, 1998).

Brean uses a nonconventional strategy to achieve this objective. He fabricates a fake war with Albania to induce the media into directing their attention to the fake war and ignore the sex scandal (Ebert, 1998).

Brean seeks help from a Hollywood producer (Motss) who develops a theme song for the war and produces fake footage depicting the adverse effects of the war. Participants include Liz Butsky, Fad King, and Johnny Green (Ebert, 1998).

Green composes a patriotic song for the war. Motss develops footage of an Albanian orphan girl running away from rapists who take advantage of the war situation to exploit girls (Wilson, 1998). He also introduces a logo that is used in news channels to represent the war.

The plan experiences a setback when one of the participants (Harrelson) is arrested. Despite several setbacks, Motss succeeds to avert the media’s attention from the scandal to the elections (Wilson, 1998). His plan is successful because the president is reelected.

Motss is angry when he realizes that the media does not credit the president’s victory to his plan. Instead, the media attributes the win to a slogan used by the president during campaigns. Motss upsets the president when he decides to tell the media the truth regarding the victory (Ebert, 1998).

The president warns him not to reveal the truth because it would endanger his life. The plea is ignored and Motss decides to go on with his plan.

Afraid that truth will be revealed, Brean kills Motss and makes his death look like a heart attack (Wilson, 1998). The film ends with a report of violence in Albania, the location of the fake war.

The main character in the movie is Brean, a spin-doctor known for diverting attention from one situation to another. In the film, his role is to divert attention from the president’s sex scandal involving the Firefly girl to the forthcoming elections.

He advises the president to extend his visit to Asia and deny that the B-3 bomber’s activation was due (Wilson, 1998). As the president extends his trip, Brean fabricates a story about war with Albania. He chooses Albania because few people know its location and they do not care.

He uses the skills of Stanley Motss to create footage that proves the existence of the war. Brean succeeds in diverting the public’s attention and gets the president reelected for another term (Ebert, 1998). However, he threatens to reveal the secret behind the president’s victory.

The president kills him because he is afraid that truth will be revealed and as such compromise his presidency.

The movie is a political satire film that is highly entertaining. It involves many lies that are intended to conceal truth. Brean’s plan is the focus of the film. Brean executes the plan brilliantly and in a manner that keeps viewers entertained.

Use of political satire is controlled because it neither irritates nor vexes viewers. Acting skills displayed in the movie are commendable. Characters display exceptional skills that make the film engaging from beginning to end.

Development of a fake war improves the film’s appeal because it averts people’s attention and achieves the objective of the film. The tragic death of Brean signifies betrayal is a common phenomenon in politics.

Wag the dog is a political satire film that reveals strategies used by politicians to win elections and conceal the truth. It also reveals devious means that politicians use to cover their ills.

In the film, the president uses the skills of a political consultant (Brean) to cover his sex scandal involving a Firefly girl. Brean successfully gets the president reelected by diverting public attention from the scandal to the elections.

However, Brean is vexed when the media fails to recognize his efforts and decides to reveal the truth.

The president kills him to avoid compromising his victory and presidency. The movie is appealing because of the excellent presentation of political satire and display of brilliant acting skills.

Ebert, R. (1998). Wag the Dog . Web.

Wilson, S. (1998). Perpetually Rejuvenated Illusions . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, April 9). The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog". https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-political-satire-film-wag-the-dog/

"The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog"." IvyPanda , 9 Apr. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-political-satire-film-wag-the-dog/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog"'. 9 April.

IvyPanda . 2020. "The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog"." April 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-political-satire-film-wag-the-dog/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog"." April 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-political-satire-film-wag-the-dog/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Political Satire Film "Wag the Dog"." April 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-political-satire-film-wag-the-dog/.

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• Face Negotiation Theory in the Film “Whale Rider“
• Failure of Blockbuster and Movie Gallery
• Makeup Techniques: "The Wizard of Oz" by Victor Fleming
• Comparison of the Movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest" and F. Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis"