Review of Wag the Dog (1997) by Daniel S — 27 Aug 2014

A critically acclaimed comedy starring Dustin Hoffman in an Academy Award nominated performance, Wag the Dog sounded too good to miss.

Wag the Dog does not seem as funny today as it would have been upon its original release date. Like The Manchurian Candidate, Wag the Dog would have been a very prescient upon its original release in 1997 due to the forthcoming Lewinsky scandal and the subsequent bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan by the Clinton Administration. Wag the Dog takes a poke at political satire at the American Government which makes it a clever film, but the actual effect of how funny it is will likely vary among viewers as the tone of the film is so serious with the political satire being so straight up that it more dramatic than it is funny a lot of the time. What I mean is that the satire of the film feels so serious. The general tone in Wag the Dog seems to be legitimately dramatic as a satire with minor elements of comedy, but there was no consistency with the tone. As a whole, it seems to be a black comedy-drama and it is handled with a strongly conceived script which maintains a lot of intelligent language that gives strong characters to the cast, but it doesn't exactly keep things consistently interesting.

Wag the Dog is clearly a much more American oriented film because the way that it focuses on American politics does not have as much international relevance. The concept of political corruption is a lot more notable in politics of the US because most scandals I've heard about in pop culture all tend to come back to America, ranging from the Lewinsky Scandal to the Watergate Fiasco. It is members of the US public who are most likely to feel the full effect of the film because for me it only ended up having half the desired effect. I wasn't even aware of the relevance it had to the way that Operation Desert Storm was used to help George H.W. Bush get re-elected as it is not something I have been educated on prior to seeing the film.

All in all, Wag the Dog was a film that made me think, but its actual entertainment value was something else. Its premise was a thin one and while it had some deep and complex themes lying within it, the story was limited. It was more about how the story was told than what the story actually was, and the narrative did not really carry itself far. It was an interesting film because of its real world relevance and because of the way it explored its concepts, but it was not really that great as a story. On the surface the concept sounds good in terms of humour and satire, and that it will have a lot of validity as an original concept. But despite some good themes and concepts, it can actually only carry itself so far and it progresses towards a strange and sudden ending which doesn't really tie things up all that well. The end seemed to get too satirical because it really took the idea of media greed into overdrive and made things confusing. I walked away from Wag the Dog with a lot of questions which only remained half-answered by the tale, so even in terms of screenplay the concepts of the film exceed its narrative grasp. And despite typically effective and stylish direction from Barry Levinson, Wag the Dog just failed to tie up all of its loose ends.

The cast of the film really get involved in the material though and prove to be the finest consistent asset of the material.

Dustin Hoffman is spot on in Wag the Dog. What his character represents is very important to the satirical edge of the film as he is the creation of a lot of political lies in a game of propaganda supporting the president of the United States, as well as the fact that he is an allegory for the merciless pursuit of attention that is dominated by the media circus. Dustin Hoffman takes on an interesting character and delivers his natural charm and charisma to the part which ensures that he is constantly involved in the material and determined in the role of Stanley Motss. He brings a certain level of sophistication and confidence to the part which he is gradually stripped of as the story progresses and he faces with a lot of complicated situations. Dustin Hoffman develops the role really well as the film progresses and he keeps up with the material consistently so that he can take it in and understand it very well, and you can really expect nothing less from him, so his leading performance is a typically powerful one.

Robert De Niro also does a great job. Although his chemistry with Dustin Hoffman is strong, it didn't exactly project as many comic virtues as I was hoping. Still, they worked well as a team, and when it came to working solo, Robert De Niro did another expectedly strong effort. He brings a certain level of sophistication to the part which gives him a confident demeanour and supports the notion that he knows how to handle all of the situations presented to him. Robert De Niro's natural charm in the part makes him a strong lead actor for Wag the Dog and he delivers all of his lines with easy intelligence which empowers the role.

Anne Heche played a good part as well, and Woody Harrelson's small role was a pivotal one also because he is able to fit the profile of a criminally insane Army man with comic skill.

So Wag the Dog has a talented cast lined up led by a typically strong performance from Dustin Hoffman as well as some clever political satire to it thanks to a strong script, but it doesn't have the most interesting story and fails to make much of an impact on crowds outside of American audiences.