In Wag The Dog, which is being rush-released, leaving us with almost no footage to show you, the US Presidential election is less than two weeks away, and the leader of the free world has been caught with his pants down - a sex scandal, involving a teenage girl, in the White House.
His advisers have to act quickly to protect their man - to distract the American public - how better than to start a war? Not with Iraq, this time, but with Albania. Why Albania? Why not?...
This deeply, fiercely cynical film, written by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin, was released in America early in December, but amazingly predicts events that would occur a month later - the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the confrontation with Iraq. Execpt that here it`s all manipulated, just like a Hollywood movie - in fact, Connie Brean - Robert De Niro - the No 1 expert at manipulating the media and the public, turns to Hollywood producer Stanley Motss, Dustin Hoffman, for help in manufacturing phony images, a patriotic song to stir the people and white house press statements for the tv news...
De Niro and Hoffman financed the picture, along with director Barry Levinson, and it was shot incredibly quickly - in less than a month. The result is in many ways an unusually modest Hollywood film, and one which, though clever, prescient and savage, doesn`t quite stay the distance. Still, it`s worth seeing, if only for Hoffman`s hilarious Hollywood hack.
