Wag The Dog

There are three groups of audience members for this movie: those who love the satiric humor, those who get it, but don’t really think it’s that great, and those who just don’t get it. I saw it with two other people and between the three of us we represented all three groups. I happen to be in the first group. I’ve always loved satiric humor. As far as I’m concerned Wag The Dog is a masterpiece of this genre.

Basic sum-up: The president is in trouble. He’s been accused of molesting a girl who’s just a bit too young. We never really know if he did it or not. That’s up to us. His head spin doctor decides to get people to forget about it. Robert De Niro plays this part perfectly. He’s got the almost gangster quality, but it’s far enough away that you think that he actually could be a government worker.

Conrad Brean (De Niro) calls in Stanley Motts (Dustin Hoffman), a big Hollywood producer. He’s going to produce a war. Not a real one, but a staged one where no one is really in battle. This is just to get people on the side of the president. Just so no one can really check on it they go for a country that no one really knows about…Albania (all I really know is that it boarders on the Adriatic, and that’s only because of a “Cheers” episode). They pull out all the stops. Kirsten Dunst plays a girl who plays an Albanian girl running for her life in a staged villiage. The scene where they try to figure out what kind of kitten she’s running with is hilarious. She’s actually running with a bag of potato chips! We even get a “We Are The World” type song. They call in Johnny Green (Willie Nelson!) to write it.

After a while things get out of control and we have to have a hero. They choose Sgt. William Schumann (Woody Harrelson). I can’t say too much about his character without giving something away, but it’s pretty funny.

The cast of this film is amazing. Anne Heche plays the stressed out assistant to Brean, Winifred Ames. There’s also Denis Leary as the Fad King, one of Motss’s friends who helps him with his style choices. Andrea Martin (from SCTV) is another tag along of the producer’s. Craig T. Nelson is the President’s nemesis. William H. Macy also pops up a few times. (It’s been about a week since I’ve seen this movie, so I can’t remember what he did in it.)

I really liked Wag The Dog a lot. Not many satirical movies hit the bullseye like this one does, especially not political satires. Just look at Canadian Bacon, which this film has a lot in common with. I haven’t seen Canadian Bacon, but I’ve heard nothing but bad reviews of it. I’ve been wanting to see it because I like Michael Moore and John Candy, but I’m afraid that I would either hate it and be disappointed by them or I would like it and be ridiculed forever.

Well, go see the movie and see for yourself which group you belong to. No shame in any of them. Not everyone follows politics, but it doesn’t take a lot of political knowledge to follow it. Even so, I’m sure I didn’t get all of it. Just think back to the Gulf War and you should get most of the jokes.