Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 04/29/2023
A daring satire that fuses "Dr. Strangelove" to "The Player," "Wag the Dog" is quite possibly the bitterest comedy ever conceived.
Rating of
1.5/4
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/25/2012
The selling point for this film is obviously the pairing of De Niro and Hoffman, but for me it was the potential in the idea; that backroom spin doctors manufacture a war to deflect attention from a presidential sex scandal. The initial scenes when De Niro the fixer bustles into the white house and brainstorms ideas ("why Albania?" "Why not?") and later the quickfire banter between he and Hoffman are great fun. But soonafter the satirical bite is replaced by rather feeble farce, a turn for the worse reinforced by Heche's sitcom acting talents and Woody Harrelson's buck-toothed redneck soldier. This could've been a brilliant political satire, but ultimately this dog proved to be toothless.
Rating of
3.5/4
Andrew - wrote on 05/20/2012
Great satire about spin doctors and the media. Dustin Hoffman puts on a great performance as Stanley Motss, certainly worthy of his nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1997. The film is short and concise and well written. The music, put together by Mark Knopfler, is outstanding, featuring original material and the various fictional campaign songs. This film's only weakness is introducing the CIA as an adversary to the main characters, but abandoning it almost immediately. The idea that a CIA agent would back down because of bizarre accusations (such as those made by De Niro's character) is a bit weak, but that is really a minor matter for a great movie overall.
Rating of
2/4
sapien - wrote on 11/12/2011
I just remember not liking it all that much. But, it is an interesting concept.
Rating of
4/4
mitchellyoung - wrote on 04/28/2011
Brilliantly realized satire on media and politics. I liked how the film kept rising to more and more absurd heights, while still maintaining a relatively serious and grounded tone. Sort of like a modern day Dr. Strangelove.
Rating of
3/4
bwill - wrote on 01/20/2008
Mamet's classic screenplay about media manipulation brought to the screen. For Mamet, it's definitely on the lighter side (see Glengarry Glen Ross), but well done. Extraordinary acting (De Niro, Hoffman, Heche, Macy, Leary) and well-paced. If you like political thrillers, this one will not disappoint.
Rating of
2.5/4
Allison - wrote on 12/21/2007
I really liked this film and thought it worked well. Kirsten Dunst was a tad annoying, but the rest.....perfect.
Rating of
3/4
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/13/2007
Political satire is a tough subject to navigate, but Wag the Dog does some good satirizing. Democrat, Republican, doesn't matter - the fact is, I feel something like this could be cooked up and we'd swallow it hook, line and sinker.
