Wag the Dog


A satire-cum-farce which did OK at the US box office in spite of so-so reviews. Eleven days before a presidential election, the president blows it by getting up to michief with an underaged girl. Desperate to keep the story out of the press, his team decide to create a diversionary news story, about a ficticious war (us verses them) in the Balkans. However, as the truth about the fake war comes closer to being revealed, the team are driven to ever more desperate measures to maintain the charade.

95 minutes.
No persons under 13 (Language) .
Comedy

Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.

You need sincerity, even if you have to fake it.
You need sincerity, even if you have to fake it.

Credits

Cast
Dustin Hoffman, Robert de Niro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson
Director
Barry Levinson
ScreenplayHilary Henkin, David Mamet, from a novel by Larry Beinhart
MusicTom Bähler, Mark Knopfler
Sound formatsDolby Digital, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, DTS
Made in1997
Produced byTribeca Productions, New Line Cinema, Punch Productions, Baltimore Pictures

Official Site




Ratings

Scale (Max)20

What the Critics say

Cape Argus
Bianca Coleman
10
The Cape Times
Fiona Chisholm
10
The Star
Peter Feldmang
18
Die Burger
Gabriël Botma
15
Sunday Times
William Pretorius
15
Rapport
Barrie Hough
18
TV3 Screenplay
Barry Ronge
18
TV2 Leon at the Movies
Leon van Nierop
18
TV2 Pasella
Derrich Gardner
18
SAfm Sunday
Alan Swerdlow
18
eye Weekly
Gregory Boyd Bell
10
Box Office
Ray Greene
8
Film Review
James Cameron-Wilson
10

What the People say

Internet
1013 Netizens
15

Average .. 72%

14

Visitor Ratings

Scale (Max)20
Robert Haynes 14
Laetitia Loubser 16
Hannes Viljoen 10

Average .. 67%

13

Visitor Comments

Robert Haynes: Fun but nothing earth shattering here. CLEVER would be a perfect way to sum up this very entertaining IN-JOKE. But don't read more into it than need be. Judging by the critics above this film is a classic of sorts - which is isn't - be warned though it is for reasonably intellectual audiences and not for any Tom, Dick or Sally.

Laetitia Loubser: The success of the movie was the fact that it was released in the USA the same week that the Clinton-Monica bomb was dropped. So it did not seem like an aftermath - rather ''we new beforehand''. An excelent piece of socio-political satire. It has a thought-provoking message about the relationship between politics, mass market entertainment and the people of USA. I think the joke is on the people....






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