Wag the Dog Movie Information

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Movie Information

Overall Rank: 3100

Average Rating: 2.8/4

# of Ratings: 117

Theatrical Release Date: 12/25/1997

Language: English

Genre: Comedy

MPAA Rating: R

Director: Barry Levinson

Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Kirsten Dunst

Plot: Caught in a sex scandal, the presidential spin-meister diverts the media's attention by creating a war ... using Hollywood.

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.

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.

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.