WAG THE DOG
starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H.              Macy, Craig T. Nelson, Suzie Plakson,
directed by:  Barry Levinson                     produced by:  JANE ROSENTHAL
written by: DAVID MAMET, HILARY HENKIN,

 

 

 

 

               WHAT IT'S ABOUT

See if you recognize the story:

The President is being blamed for some sexual misconduct in the Oval Office, it's just two weeks before elections and now we are at war with a Middle Eastern country.  

No...this isn't about Clinton. Good guess though!  You get to take home a wonderful parting gift.   This movie was based on the book, "American Hero".  DeNiro is a Spin Doctor who is called in to stop the attack by th epress before it begins. So he creates the idea of a war when there isn't one and everything you ever thought you knew is actually just Hollywood effects.

 

                     MY THOUGHTS
(CAUTION!!!  SPOILERS!!!)

A serious story, yet it achieves to have fun with itself and toss in a few barrels of laughter in the story to make things more fun.  I laughed hardest when Willie Nelson is trying to write the theme song for the "war" that is created entirely on TV. There is no real war except for what we see on the television.  Just when things are going their way, the FBI thinks they are cute and begin to play DeNiro's game by changing the story.  The FBI stops the war.  But that doesn't stop DeNiro and Hoffman.  Hoffman plays the war like a movie - he should!  He's a Hollywood movie producer after all.  So he treats the whole thing as a giant work in progress which is what he was hired for.  So when the "war" is over, he decides to "bring home the boys."  We need a hero for our war.   Unfortunately something happens to him.  He dies.  Now we have a fallen war hero!  The ending happens in the only way it could.  It is a little anti-climatic, yet it only shows how far DeNiro can go with his position.

                            MY RATING

WATCH THIS FILM!

After seeing this and comparing it to today's news about Clinton's sexual escapades and the growing problems with Hussein, you'll begin to think and the day at work you'll be talking about this with your friends and co-workers.

Official WAG THE DOG web site