Most people know the plot of this outrageously funny movie by now. A political spin doctor, Conrad Brean (Robert de Niro), and a Hollywood producer, Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), both well endowed with chutzpah, set out to create the illusion that the USA has gone to war with Albania, as a distraction from a Presidential sexual peccadillo. Made and released before the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, it is not clear whether the movie's makers had great insight, or inside knowledge; either way, that episode adds to the interest and relevance of the film.
De Niro and Hoffman are both brilliant, though understandably the latter seems especially to relish lampooning a film-world type he must have encountered many times in his career. Anne Heche is just right as a Presidential aide who previously thought she was streetwise, but faced with Brean and Motss realises she's a tyro in the kidology game; and Woody Harrelson has a wonderful role as the man picked to play the war hero who just happens to be a psychotic convict. Willy Nelson is also in the movie, apparently playing himself, but in reality(?) as a character called Johnny Dean; he also wrote and performs some of the great songs, including the stirring "I Guard the Canadian Border (I guard the American dream)"!!
Among the targets of the satire are clearly the US political establishment, the broadcasting media and Hollywood; but there is a danger that the primary target may be overlooked, and it is worthwhile remembering the derivation of the film's title. Normally, the dog wags the tail because the dog's smarter than the tail; but if the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog; and there can be little doubt that the dog being wagged by Brean and Motss is the viewing and voting public.
De Niro and Hoffman are both brilliant, though understandably the latter seems especially to relish lampooning a film-world type he must have encountered many times in his career. Anne Heche is just right as a Presidential aide who previously thought she was streetwise, but faced with Brean and Motss realises she's a tyro in the kidology game; and Woody Harrelson has a wonderful role as the man picked to play the war hero who just happens to be a psychotic convict. Willy Nelson is also in the movie, apparently playing himself, but in reality(?) as a character called Johnny Dean; he also wrote and performs some of the great songs, including the stirring "I Guard the Canadian Border (I guard the American dream)"!!
Among the targets of the satire are clearly the US political establishment, the broadcasting media and Hollywood; but there is a danger that the primary target may be overlooked, and it is worthwhile remembering the derivation of the film's title. Normally, the dog wags the tail because the dog's smarter than the tail; but if the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog; and there can be little doubt that the dog being wagged by Brean and Motss is the viewing and voting public.