X
- 1997
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 37 m
- 1997
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 37 m
Summary Wickedly fictional with historical overtones truer than many care to admit, Wag The Dog examines the blurred lines between politics, the media and show business. (New Line Productions)
Directed By: Barry Levinson
Written By: Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin, David Mamet
- 1997
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 37 m
- 1997
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 37 m
Wag the Dog
74
7.4
Where to Watch
Summary Wickedly fictional with historical overtones truer than many care to admit, Wag The Dog examines the blurred lines between politics, the media and show business. (New Line Productions)
Directed By: Barry Levinson
Written By: Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin, David Mamet
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
74
73% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
27% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
74
73% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
27% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The movie is a satire that contains just enough realistic ballast to be teasingly plausible; like "Dr. Strangelove," it makes you laugh, and then it makes you wonder.
Director Barry Levinson has given this swift, sure-footed film a matter-of-fact, improvisational look and feel. To appreciate its brisk, confident, wild comedy, all you need is a funny bone and a BS meter.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 User Ratings
7.4
75% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
23% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
2% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 User Ratings
7.4
75% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
23% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
2% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
to hit the reality THAT accurate - this movie is simply great, i would put it in one line with Kubrick`s dr Strangelove - different styles ,and timeframes, but juust as good in delivering the message. no matter what year on your calendar right now - look around, watch tv **** called "news" - and you`ll see how accurate this comedy is. Truly, the only sad thing about such comedy/satire films is how much it shows you reality. Of course, Hoffman`s and De Niro`s characters in the movie are just innocent babies compare to their real life counterparts, but its within comedy genre, not dystopia.
All actors did great - from main ones to albanian catgirl Kirsten Dunst.
Great anti-war and anti-brain-wash movie, worth your time watching 10/10.
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I remember when I was watching this movie the first time in 1997 I didnt understand the movie. It was nonsense for me. After so many years and understanding the media and politics, I enjoyed the movie so much. This movie laughs so much about all the naive people, who believe everything, what is coming out of the **** Niro and Hoffman were brilliant.
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This is one of Levinson's best films, and the screenplay, co-penned by noted writer David Mamet (along with Hilary Henkin), is brilliantly on-target.
WAG the Dog is a cozy political satire, the warm-and-fuzzy kind that is always entertaining yet never disturbing.
Barry Levinson’s political and media satire Wag the Dog goes as fast as the wind, and that’s a relief because the idea behind the movie is thin. Very thin -- and at times offensively glib.
Hoffman's electric performance carries the film beyond its banal pretext and Dennis Leary and Woody Harrelson are a scream in cameos.
A blithely unfunny, low-budget comedy from director Barry Levinson.
Dans la même veine que "Meurtres en direct", une excellente satire de la politique politicienne, de la manipulation des masses et des écrans de fumée... C'est ici très inspiré d'une certaine affaire Lewinsky qui concernait un certain président, un "DSK" bien avant l'heure en somme qui a ensuite détourné l'attention par une petite guerre opportuniste en ex-Yougoslavie...
Notons cependant que le film est sorti (aux Etats-unis) un bon mois avant le scandale et que soit les auteurs étaient incroyablement bien informés, soit ils avaient une imagination particulièrement... perverse ! mais quand on pense aux armes de destruction massivement fictives de la seconde guerre d'Irak, on se dit de toute façon que la fiction reste toujours bien en deçà de la réalité... (cf les trumperies !).
Quoi qu'il en soit, cette comédie souvent acide n'y va pas par quatre chemins et met les pieds dans le plat, parfois un peu trop sans doute, emportée par son entrain très entraînant qui fait feu de tout bois. Il faut dire que les acteurs s'en donnent à coeur joie, De Niro en "Monsieur Propre" et Hoffman en producteur mégalomane !
Drôle et cinglant en tout cas, le film reste très rythmé et dénonce avec intelligence (ce qui reste rare en Amérique) les lavages de cerveau et les bourrages de crâne en tous genres : une belle réussite.
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Vote For Honesty.
Wag The Dog
Levinson's smart and electrifying schemes on conjuring the elections is a work of pure art and not your usual sketchy comic drama. From the first frame the tale generates an exuberant energy on screen with pragmatic conversation that fuels on the environment offered to it that feels honest and real to the core. Similar to your usual mundane office day, this hectic week triumphs on its cutthroat sarcasm and hilarious ideologies. Unlike your usual structure, it is a one big act that feeds on high pitched dramatic antics that the gripping screenplay is brimmed of. The makers aren't hesitating on making big provocative decisions, their genuinely effective feeling towards justifying the characters is a testament to the writers' brilliance.
As much as hilarious the film is, the grasp of it towards practicality grows stronger and stronger that induces eye popping complex drama among the characters that are all at their vulnerable point of their life, either through success or failure. The content revolving around such political crises ought to have a diverse solution, and Levinson's world has managed to be diplomatic yet accurate to its requirements and answers. Hoffman at the realm of it is a delight to watch, he can pull off comic timing as perfect as his dramatic performance is.
In fact arguably, Hoffman is a much better humorisc than De Niro is, his body language speaks for his intentions that are sinister and quirky. De Niro in his underdog character that is often retreated by the makers as a trump card in crisis. And he flaunts majestically on screen especially the first time Macy confronts him for some questioning. Hecke supports convincingly and Harrelson lifts the film to a whole new level through his cynicism. Wag The Dog leaves its audience wagging the tale merrily.
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Every political satire I've watched requires some engagement to seem plausible, except this one. Wag the Dog is the only one of its kind that contains just enough realistic weight to be uncomfortably realistic. You will laugh out loud, and feel that all things make a lot of sense without wondering. Also, it doesn't try to be bitter and harsh as other satirical movies do. In fact, it's always fluffy and warm, and that makes the movie quiet ironical in its own. Especially, because it's very very painfully relevant. All the actors delivered terrific performances, and there is superb chemistry between every actor and another, even who have smaller roles. Needless to say, Robert De Niro is great. But Dustin Hoffman is who steals the show. Hoffman gave one of the best performances in his entire career. Actually, I will put his performance in Wag the Dog right after the performance that made him a household name in The Graduate. But let's put that off till I watch Rain Man. Woody Harrelson also has a small role in this movie, and although his character in not very interesting, especially because it was in the weakest part of the movie when it dragged a little bit, Harrelson's impeccable performance is not to blame. Every single subtle trick in Wag the Dog makes you burst out laughing. And the movie takes advantage of all these tricks and small details until the credits roll. It never wastes any clever joke that made you laugh, and uses it again in a more clever way to make you laugh over it again and again.
Barry Levinson's direction is so smart, clever and slick. He made the movie fast-paced and that was a good decision, but I think he could have concentrated on the funniest moments in the movie to make them more pleasant, and to make them memorable not only funny. I have kinda the same issue with one of my all-time favorite movies, The Graduate. (I think Mike Nichols should have focused on the drama more than he did.) The political commentary was a little on-the-nose at first but Barry Levinson's wit direction outweighed this little issue from the beginning. And the result is one of, if not the funniest political satire movie I've ever seen.
(8.5/10)
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The film is satirizing the USA politics in an ironic way, and how the politicians try to hide their scandals by making something bigger (like war) to distract the public opinion.
The idea is cool to make it as a funny film, but actually the film wasn't funny at all, It looks like a biography film not a comedy!!
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A "had to be there" flick, I suspect. That's not to completely diminish the timelessness of what the movie's trying to say, but if you look into the events occurring around the film's release, I'm betting this one was more enthralling to watch in the theater back in 1997. I also couldn't help but feel as though the "point" of everything became a bit too clear early on. Not too early on, but still, I'd had my fill at a point. The scene structure and dialogue bothered me as well. So many scenes go by featuring characters simply talking to one another, while other characters watch or interject seemingly unrelated lines, awkwardly so. Characters will problem-solve their way through a scene with little to no resistance. It almost feels like a hangout movie at a point. Normally, I'd chalk all of this up to a screenplay being much more of a slave to its message than to actually telling a good story, but it's not as though the narrative in play is uninteresting. "Wag The Dog" is a bit of an odd duck of a film, but not one I particularly regret watching. Super "meh" ending, however.
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Production Company
Baltimore Pictures,
New Line Cinema,
Punch Productions,
Tribeca Productions
Release Date Dec 25, 1997
Duration 1 h 37 m
Rating R
Tagline Is this life imitating art in the film that preceded the biggest news story of 1998.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 3 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
Online Film & Television Association
• 3 Nominations
