Wag the Dog, a film by Barry Levinson (Bandits, Rain Man & Good Morning Vietnam), has an original concept however fails to deliver the poignant and dynamic effect it should create on the viewer.
When the President of the United States becomes involved in a sex scandal just a week before the election, a 'spin doctor' (Robert De Niro) is called in to fix the problem. He sees that the only way to divert the publics and more importantly the media's attention away from the President's scandal is to create a fake war. However creating an artificial war isn't an easy task, so De Niro's character, Conrad Brean, goes about finding a famous Hollywood movie producer, Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman).
Hoffman and De Niro are both brilliant as usual, however as the film unfolds the tail becomes more and more unrealistic while the script fails to captivate the viewer and produce the strongly compelling effect which the plot should create.
All in all Wag the Dog is an original, quirky, well acted and slightly funny film however is nothing brilliant. 6/10
When the President of the United States becomes involved in a sex scandal just a week before the election, a 'spin doctor' (Robert De Niro) is called in to fix the problem. He sees that the only way to divert the publics and more importantly the media's attention away from the President's scandal is to create a fake war. However creating an artificial war isn't an easy task, so De Niro's character, Conrad Brean, goes about finding a famous Hollywood movie producer, Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman).
Hoffman and De Niro are both brilliant as usual, however as the film unfolds the tail becomes more and more unrealistic while the script fails to captivate the viewer and produce the strongly compelling effect which the plot should create.
All in all Wag the Dog is an original, quirky, well acted and slightly funny film however is nothing brilliant. 6/10