Synopsis
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.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Dustin HoffmanStanley Motss
- Robert De NiroConrad Brean
- Anne HecheWinifred Ames
- Woody HarrelsonSergeant William Schumann
- Denis LearyFad King
- Willie NelsonJohnny Dean
- Andrea MartinLiz Butsky
- Kirsten DunstTracy Lime
- William H. MacyCIA Agent Charles Young
- David KoechnerDirector
Recommendations
- 90
Los Angeles Times
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
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
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
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
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
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)
WAG the Dog is a cozy political satire, the warm-and-fuzzy kind that is always entertaining yet never disturbing. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
Barry Levinson's dark comedy is sly, funny, and unnerving.
